EFF Urges Vermont to Strengthen Privacy Laws

Vermont should build on this year’s privacy law for data brokers, Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Staff Attorney Adam Schwartz blogged Thursday. It enacted a bill in May to mandate security standards for data brokers and require them to report annually to the Vermont secretary of state (see 1805140060). Attorney General T.J. Donovan (D) last week hosted a hearing on next steps for Vermont on privacy (see 1809250035). Schwartz urged Vermont legislators to expand the law, which applies to third-party data brokers, to also cover first parties with a direct relationship with consumers. “For example, the Vermont law does not cover a social media platform like Facebook, or a retailer like Walmart, when those companies gather information about how consumers interact with their own websites,” he said. Lawmakers should “impose on data brokers a fiduciary duty towards the consumers whose data they harvest and monetize,” create a government office to assist data breach victims and ensure those people can also seek compensation for nonfinancial injuries, he said.