Illinois Governor Vetoes Geolocation Privacy Bill

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has vetoed a privacy bill that would have required app developers, ad networks and other online companies to obtain consumers' opt-in consent before collecting or disclosing information about their physical locations.

The Geolocation Privacy Protection Act, which would have been the first location-privacy bill in the country to be enacted, drew the support of more than two dozen organizations and tech companies, including search engine Duck Duck Go.

Business groups, including the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, the Internet Association (which represents many of Silicon Valley's largest companies), NetChoice (which represents ecommerce companies) and ACT, The App Association (which represents app developers and tech companies) had opposed the measure.

The bill "would have stifled innovation in Illinois' tech industries, burdened app users, and given Illinois a bad reputation in comparison to other states," the Illinois Chamber of Commerce stated after Rauner's veto.

Earlier this month, a new group called the Illinois Data Security Alliance claimed in an online ad campaign that the bill "forces users to review additional complex disclosures and puts them at risk of fraud."

Privacy advocates condemned the campaign as misleading. "It is impossible that a bill that would make companies be transparent about what they're doing with the information would put consumers at risk for fraud," Ari Scharg, a privacy lawyer who heads the advocacy group Digital Privacy Alliance, told MediaPost last week.

State lawmakers can override the veto, but doing so requires a three-fifths majority -- which comes to 71 votes in the House and 36 in the Senate. This spring, 69 House members and 33 Senate members voted in favor of the bill. It's not yet clear whether proponents will be able to convince at least five additional lawmakers to vote in favor of the measure.

Illinois wasn't the only state to consider new privacy laws this year. Legislation was introduced in at least 20 other states and two cities, including Seattle and Washington, D.C., and two municipalities in Pennsylvania. To date, Seattle appears to be the only locale that passed a new online privacy bill. That measure requires cable providers to obtain subscribers' opt-in consent before using information about their Web browsing for ad purposes.

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