Warren Leads Charge to Ban Sale of People’s Health and Location Data

The Health and Location Data Protection Act will ban brokers from selling Americans' location and health data, rein in giant data brokers, and set some long overdue rules of the road forth is $200 billion industry. The bill defines data brokers as any person or entity "that collects, buys, licenses, or infers data about individuals and then sells, licenses, or trades that data."

April 1, 2023 | Source: Common Dreams | by Julia Conley

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday called on the U.S. Senate to protect Americans’ “most private information” by banning data brokers from selling people’s health and location data, which is constantly collected and stored by tech companies.

Introducing the Health and Location Data Protection Act as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to soon overturn Roe v. Wade and take away the right to abortion care for millions of Americans, the Massachusetts Democrat said “it is more crucial than ever for Congress to protect consumers’ sensitive data.”

“Data brokers profit from the location data of millions of people, posing serious risks to Americans everywhere,” said Warren. “The Health and Location Data Protection Act will ban brokers from selling Americans’ location and health data, rein in giant data brokers, and set some long overdue rules of the road forth is $200 billion industry.”

The bill defines data brokers as any person or entity “that collects, buys, licenses, or infers data about individuals and then sells, licenses, or trades that data.”