Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general and state agencies in opposing the Securing and Establishing Consumer Uniform Rights and Enforcement over Data Act (SECURE Data Act), a federal data privacy bill that would supplant the privacy protections provided by the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act as well as other state privacy and cybersecurity laws.
The SECURE Data Act offers weak privacy protections and would hamper the ability of Maryland to adequately protect the privacy of its residents. In the letter, the coalition calls on Congress to reject the SECURE Data Act, and to respect the privacy protections that states already grant their residents or might provide in future state-level legislation.
Maryland and other state comprehensive privacy laws have set minimum data privacy standards, including heightened protections for minors and sensitive consumer data, limits on how data may be used and retained, and the ability for consumers to stop the sale of their data via a universal opt-out preference signal. The SECURE Data Act would wipe out these meaningful protections, making it harder for consumers to exercise their rights, give businesses more discretion on how to use and retain their data, and significantly limit enforcement remedies.
The SECURE Data Act moves privacy rights in the wrong direction, leaving consumers worse off and with fewer protections. Any federal privacy framework must leave in place existing state laws and also provide room for states to legislate responsively to changes in technology and data collection practices, as states are better equipped to address the unique needs of their residents and quickly adjust to the challenges presented by technological innovation.
In sending the letter, Attorney General Brown joins the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, as well as the California Privacy Protection Agency and the Hawaiʻi Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
