EPIC Urges Vermont Senators to Vote No on Weak ‘Privacy’ Bill

On Thursday, EPIC and Consumer Reports sent a letter to Vermont’s Senators urging them to vote against S. 71, a so-called “privacy” bill that in truth undermines established privacy protections for Vermonters. 

“Passing S.71 is actually worse than passing nothing at all,” EPIC Deputy Director Caitriona Fitzgerald wrote, because the bill “will give Vermonters the illusion of privacy while conferring little meaningful privacy protection.” 

S. 71 follows the Connecticut Data Privacy Act’s model, which was heavily influenced by Big Tech and fails to provide consumers with adequate privacy protections while also cementing corporation-friendly regulations into law. 

The bill undermines the Vermont Kids Code’s protections for minors, allows companies to collect and use personal data for whatever purposes they please so long as they disclose those purposes in a privacy policy, and abandons the ban on sale of sensitive data that was present in its earlier drafts. 

Should Vermont pass this bill, Big Tech lobbyists will weaponize its weak framework as they continue to push for a federal data privacy law that favors their clients and preempts states from passing further personal data protections. 

EPIC thanks the Vermont Legislature for its many hours of work on data privacy over the last few years and encourages them to preserve those efforts by voting no on S. 71.