• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

For the second straight year, lawmakers in Virginia's senate have passed a bill that would outright ban businesses from selling data that can pinpoint people's locations.

Virginia's existing privacy law requires businesses to obtain consumers' consent before selling "precise" location data -- meaning information that can determine geolocation within a 1,750-foot radius.

The state senate this week voted 36-0 in favor of the SB 338, which was introduced by Senator Russet Perry. The bill now moves to the House of Delegates. The state senate approved a similar bill last year, but the measure stalled in the house.

Two other states -- Maryland and Oregon -- have passed comparable bans on the sale of location data.

Ad industry groups oppose the measure, arguing to Virginia lawmakers that it "would deprive Virginia consumers of access to critical services and benefits that depend on location data."

"This sweeping ban would unnecessarily disrupt data practices that allow companies to reach consumers with relevant content and advertising, enabling consumers to learn about goods and services that are near to them," the Association of National Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation and Digital Advertising Alliance said in a letter sent earlier this week to state legislators.

"Without the ability to disclose precise geolocation data for advertising purposes, subject to consumers’ opt-in consent, businesses will have a more difficult time, and face higher costs, reaching individuals with relevant marketing, and Virginia consumers will not be alerted to products and services they desire that are near to them," the organizations argued.

But advocacy groups back the proposed law, writing in a letter to lawmakers that it "will provide straightforward, powerful, and critically important protections for the privacy, autonomy, and physical safety of Virginians while still giving advertisers plenty of leeway to reach customers."

"Ultimately businesses do not need to purchase Virginians’ precise geolocation data in order to effectively advertise," Consumer Reports, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and others said last month in a joint letter to lawmakers.

They added that the bill allows business to continue to collect location data, provided consumers consent.

"Some types of data are simply too sensitive to allow commercial entities to buy and sell," the groups write. "Granular data about our everyday comings and goings -- which reveals the location of our homes, friends’ homes, places of worship, political causes we support, medical services we seek out, and more -- is clearly one of those."

The Electronic Privacy Information Center added in a separate letter to Virginia lawmakers that the bill "would put a stop to some of the most harmful abuses of our personal data happening today."

That group specifically noted that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is exploring how it could use ad-tech data for investigations, and has reportedly purchased access to a host of tracking and monitoring tools.