Mass. Legislators Mull Social Care Privacy Bills Requiring Data Minimization
Massachusetts should pass legislation protecting privacy of individuals’ social care information, said an official from FindHelp, a social care data software company, at a livestreamed Joint Consumer Protection Committee hearing Monday.
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H-378, which is similar to S-258, “seeks to prohibit the sale of data collected in a ‘closed-loop referral system’” for social care, said the committee’s bill summary. The bill would “prohibit using any information collected for the purpose of social care for anything other than its intended purpose.” It would include a penalty of $1,000 per violation, enforced by the state attorney general.
H-378 and S-258 “stand as vital safeguards for the privacy of Massachusetts residents, ensuring that individuals are protected from misuse, exploitation and inappropriate sale of their personal information,” said Toby Landau, FindHelp's regional director of state government relations.
The two Massachusetts bills’ requirements “on data minimization, consumer rights and the protection of sensitive data are essential as they ensure that data is only collected when necessary, and that individuals have the right to access, correct and delete their data,” said Landau. FindHelp has committed not to sell its trove of sensitive data, including on individuals’ housing status, food insecurity and transportation needs, she noted.