Massachusetts advances broad ban on sale of precise location data

Massachusetts moved closer to one of the nation’s broadest state privacy laws, one that would bar companies and startups from selling precise location data and a wide list of other sensitive information tied to ordinary life. For consumers, the bill would limit firms to collecting only what is reasonably necessary to provide a product or service, while giving residents the power to access, correct, delete, transport and opt out of certain uses of their personal data.

The measure goes well beyond location trails. It would prohibit the sale of health-care information, face scans and fingerprints, data about a person’s religion or ethnicity, immigration-status information and information about a child. The current version also adds enhanced protections for minors, including a full ban on selling a young person’s personal data. That matters because precise geolocation can expose daily routines and private decisions, including trips to medical clinics, houses of worship and other places people may expect to remain private.

The House advanced amended versions of the package in June 2026 after the Senate had already passed the legislation on a bipartisan 40-0 vote in September 2025. On June 4, 2026, the House gave the bill a third reading and adopted a consolidated amendment by a 146-0 vote, showing the breadth of support inside the State House. Sponsors from both chambers have cast the proposal as a consumer-protection step that would rein in surveillance and data misuse without shutting down innovation.

Lawmakers have tied the bill to reproductive-health access, LGBTQ lives, religious liberty and freedom of movement, underscoring how location data can be turned into a surveillance tool. House leaders said restricting the trade in location data helps protect people from stalking and the misuse of sensitive information. Senate leaders, including Karen E. Spilka and Cynthia Stone Creem, said the legislation would place Massachusetts among the strongest privacy states in the country.

The bill also reflects a longer campaign in the Legislature. A similar push in the 2023-2024 session sought to ban the sale of cell phone location information, suggesting the state has been inching toward a broader privacy overhaul for multiple sessions. Even so, the new proposal still leaves a central question for companies and advocates: banning sales of precise location data can close one lucrative market, but firms may still collect other forms of data so long as they say it is reasonably necessary, leaving enforcement and the definition of necessity as the real battleground.