ACLP Testimony Before the Maine Senate Judiciary Committee Regarding Data Privacy

Today, the ACLP testified before the Maine Senate Judiciary Committee in support of L.D. 1284, a bill that, if passed, would repeal Maine’s current data privacy law, which focuses only on internet service providers (ISPs). The ACLP supports this bill because repealing the existing law is a necessary first step towards adopting more comprehensive and uniform data privacy protections that would apply equally to all actors in the digital ecosystem – ISPs, edge companies like Meta and Google, AI firms, data brokers, and others. The Committee is considering several comprehensive privacy bills along with L.D. 1284.

Maine’s current ISP-focused legislative framework for data privacy is an outlier among the 20 or so states that have adopted privacy legislation in the last few years. Indeed, it is the only one that focuses solely on ISPs. This focus is misplaced because ISPs rely on selling broadband, video, and voice subscriptions to customers to make money. They rarely, if ever, engage in the kind of data harvesting and monetization that drive all other actors in the digital ecosystem. As such, without comprehensive data privacy protections, the people of Maine and their sensitive online information will remain at the mercy of rapacious tech companies, who are engaging in ever more pernicious behavior to harvest as much information about us as they can. (The ACLP analyzed these dynamics in filings to the FCC in 2016 and to NTIA in 2018.)

The ACLP’s testimony is available here. In support of L.D. 1284, the ACLP made the following points to the Maine Senate Judiciary Committee:

1. Maine’s current ISP-focused data privacy law does not reflect the realities of the digital ecosystem or the harms that stem from it.
   
2. In the absence of strong, comprehensive, and uniform data privacy laws – and without policymakers willing to stand up to rapacious data harvesters – firms for which data is their lifeblood will continue unabashed in their pursuit of more and more of our sensitive information.
3. The harms of unrestrained data collection and monetization practices by tech firms are becoming more visceral by the day, with children and teens bearing the brunt of ever more intrusive harvesting techniques.
4. The inadequacy of Maine’s digital privacy framework is also evident by simply comparing the current law, which applies only to ISPs, and the proposed comprehensive data privacy laws also pending before the Committee today. The roster of proposed protections in the comprehensive bills are not currently available to the people of Maine, leaving them exposed to myriad potential harms.
5. Repealing the ISP-focused privacy law is a necessary first steps towards bolstering online protections in Maine.