WBZ | Civil Rights, Reproductive Care Coalition Supporting Location Data Bill

By Andrew Rich
Story Originally Appeared on WBZ NewsRadio

BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Civil rights and reproductive care advocates in Massachusetts are teaming up to support a bill that would prohibit the sale of cellphone location data, a practice that they say could expose people seeking care in abortion clinics to harassment and potential persecution.

A coalition of organizations including the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts, and Reproductive Equity Now say that data brokers purchase movement and location data tracked by most cellphones and then resell it to anyone with a credit card. This includes anti-abortion groups and law enforcement agencies in states with bans on abortion services and gender-affirming care.

"We have reports of bounty hunters and debt collectors who have been actually purchasing this data location to stalk and harass people," ACLU of Massachusetts Executive Director Carol Rose told WBZ NewsRadio Wednesday. "In 2021, there was an extremist group that bought locations and tried to use it to target gay Catholics."

A bill (H 357 / S 148) filed by Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian of Melrose and Sen. Cynthia Creem of Newton would bar companies from selling, leasing, trading or renting cellphone data and require consent to collect and process it.

According to a Beacon Research poll for the ACLU of Massachusetts, only one in three voters know companies can sell their location data, and 92 percent of voters said they would support legislation banning the practice.

A hearing for the bill before the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee is pending.