Welcome to the Tech Mem Right Home for Tuesday, July 11th, 2023. I'm Brian McCullough today.

Could Massachusetts pass the first meaningful anti-tracking law in the country. With social media in transition

what's the lane for someone like Tumblr right now?

Instagram is going after Twitter but is someone coming for Instagram at the exact same

time and the sad state of affairs for video but is someone coming for Instagram at the exact same time

and the sad state of affairs for video game history.

Here's what you miss today in the world of tech.

This is something that is needed more attention in my opinion. Forget about social networks selling your data to third parties.

Consider the fact that your cell carrier, that you pay $90 a month or more to might be selling

your real-time location information to third parties as well, where you are literally right

now.

Well, Massachusetts lawmakers are weighing a near total ban on buying and selling consumers

mobile device location data, which would be the first such ban in the U.S. quoting the journal.

The legislature held a hearing last month on a bill called the Location Shield Act, a sweeping

proposal that would sharply curtail the practice of collecting and selling location data drawn from mobile phones in Massachusetts.

The proposal would also institute a warrant requirement for law enforcement access to location data,

banning data brokers from providing location information about state residents without a court authorization in most circumstances.

Location data is typically collected through mobile apps and other digital services and doesn't include information such as a name or a phone number.

But often a device's movement patterns are enough to derive a possible identity of its

owner.

For example, where a phone spends its evening and overnight hours is usually the owner's

home address and can be cross-checked against other databases for additional insight.

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