The governor of Virginia signed a law on Monday banning the sale of precise geolocation data to protect citizens from invasive tracking.
The legislation prohibits the sale of location information within a 1,750-foot radius. This buffer is designed to prevent data brokers from pinpointing specific residences, workplaces, or places of worship.
Virginia's legislature passed the bill as an amendment to the state's existing comprehensive data privacy law. The law received unanimous bipartisan support and will take effect on July 1.
Growing state-level momentum
Virginia joins Maryland and Oregon as the third state to implement similar restrictions. Legislators in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont are currently debating similar bans.
"Virginia's unanimous, bipartisan support of [this bill] is just another indicator of the growing momentum for stricter location data rules at the state level," said Matt Schwartz, a policy analyst at Consumer Reports.
Schwartz noted that these protections are critical due to the heightened risks of stalking, individualized scams, and unwanted targeting.
Data brokers have faced scrutiny after reports revealed the use of location data to track national security officials and individuals visiting abortion clinics. In February 2024, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) announced evidence that an anti-abortion organization used mobile phone location data to target citizens visiting 600 reproductive health clinics across 48 states.
While the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under the Biden administration pursued enforcement actions against location data brokers, the current Trump-era FTC has not initiated new cases. However, the agency recently signaled support for a proposed settlement with the broker Kochava, a case originally brought by the previous administration.
Court filings from November 2023 revealed that Kochava sold nearly real-time geolocation data within 10 meters of consumers, alongside details such as yearly income and app usage. The FTC previously charged that these practices violated Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive business practices.
