<\/p>\n
For advertisers, privacy is stuck in purgatory\u2014at least on the federal side.<\/p>\n
Lina Khan, an advocate for consumer privacy, is no longer leading the Federal Trade Commission. And even though some federal privacy legislation has made its way through Congress, legislators on the Hill have yet to pass any such bill.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s an advertiser to do? At Marketing Brew\u2019s Tactical MarTech event last month, a trio of privacy advocates told us to continue looking at the states, where the patchwork quilt of privacy legislation continues to grow ever more complex in the absence of any significant movement on the federal side.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have a lot of states that are trying to assert dominance,\u201d Richy Glassberg, co-founder and CEO of SafeGuard Privacy, said during a panel discussion.<\/p>\n
Since 2018, at least 19 states from California to Delaware have passed comprehensive privacy legislation, according to the IAPP\u2019s State Privacy Legislation Tracker. Last year, at least six states signed privacy bills into law. At least a dozen states are considering privacy legislation, including Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.<\/p>\n
Though much of the draft legislation contains similarities, they all have their own peculiarities, meaning there are plenty of state-specific details that might not cross state lines. One of the newer laws is the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act, which is slated to go into effect in October. It\u2019s considered to be one of the strictest in the country because of its emphasis on data minimization, which requires that companies only collect data that is \u201creasonably necessary and proportionate to provide or maintain a specific product or service,\u201d instead of sucking up everything.<\/em> More specifically, the law will require companies to only collect data to \u201cprovide or maintain a specific product or service requested by the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n Rowena Lam, senior director of privacy and data at the IAB Tech Lab, said that the requirement will pose some challenges for advertisers.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is the piece that\u2019s different from other state laws that kind of has us scratching our heads a little bit\u2026Are [customers] ever requesting that you show them ads?\u201d Lam said.<\/p>\n