PRESS RELEASE: Data Privacy Week Event Highlights Need for Upcoming Consumer Privacy Bills

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, January 27th, 2025
For more information: Rep. Monique Priestley, mpriestley@leg.state.vt.us, 802-449-2042; Zach Tomanelli, VPIRG, ztomanelli@vpirg.org, 802-262-3744

Data Privacy Week event highlights need for upcoming consumer privacy bills

MONTPELIER – To celebrate the beginning of International Data Privacy Week, Rep. Monique Priestley and VPIRG held a press conference at the State House with Vermonters to express support for privacy and highlight the need for a state-level data privacy law. Speakers included local business owners, a local parent and public health nurse, and Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark. 

Rep. Priestley also announced she will be introducing several key privacy bills later this week.

“We’re here today because the digital landscape we inhabit has brought incredible conveniences but it has also created a system where our personal information is being exploited for profit often without our knowledge or consent,” said Rep. Monique Priestley. “It is critical that we address the immediate concerns of everyday Vermonters when it comes to how their data is being collected, used, and sold.” 

Rep. Priestley outlined four tenets that a legislative privacy solution must include to be effective:

• Data minimization, the principle that companies should not be allowed to collect more data than is really necessary, or use it for irrelevant purposes.
• Allowing small businesses to engage in effective, privacy-protecting advertising while protecting people’s information. 
• Banning the sale of sensitive data, including health information, location data, and the information of minors.
• Strong enforcement mechanisms that will give individuals whose rights are violated the ability to hold companies accountable in court directly with a private right of action.

The first speaker was Jason Van Driesche, chief of staff at Front Porch Forum. “You’ve probably heard from opponents of privacy that the internet can’t function unless companies are allowed to collect whatever data they want about their users and do whatever they want with it. I’m here to tell you firsthand that that isn’t true,” Van Driesche said. “Because our business model is built on relationships and trust, not surveillance, we don’t actually need to collect that much data from our members in order to make our model work.” 

Van Driesche noted that Front Porch Forum’s 240,000 Vermont members “click the ads in their forum at high rates because they trust that Front Porch Forum delivers reliable, honest content.” 

“That’s way more effective than creepy targeting,” Van Driesche said. “Our experience has been that data minimization is not only workable, it’s a good thing.” 

The next speaker was Scott Graves, a Vermont Developer & Small Business Owner in Rutland. “Small businesses have been responsibly managing people’s information for some time out of both incentive and respect for our customer neighbors,” said Graves. “Without future legislation, our current environment lends advantage to our larger competitors while seeding mistrust overall between customers and retail.”

Laura Derrendinger, RN, public health nurse and local parent spoke to the importance of protecting minors’ sensitive data. “There is no school in Vermont where I can send my children without them being forced into a situation where their private and sensitive information is up for sale for anyone who wants to buy it,” said Derrendinger. “We all know from multiple sources that the online products that are sold to schools harvest, store, and then sell extremely sensitive data about our children.”

Derrendinger went on to provide a list of types of data collected and packaged into profiles that “follow children from cradle to career.” The list included location, mental health record, family income and suspension records.

“People like me shouldn’t have to choose between participating in society and putting their privacy at risk,” said Derrendinger. “We need a law that gives people real protection and real choices.” 

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark spoke to the need her office sees for data privacy on a daily basis. “It is only the 27th day of this month and we have already received 30 data breach notifications,” said Attorney General Clark. “In 2024, we received 724 data breach notifications. That is incredibly disturbing when you know that we don’t have a data privacy act.”

She offered perspective on the importance of enforcing data privacy laws. “Data privacy is truly one of the major consumer issues facing our time,” said Attorney General Clark. “If your data privacy is violated and you suffer damages, you should be able to sue the company that violated your data privacy.”

“Let’s protect kids, let’s protect consumers, and the marketplace,” state Attorney General Clark added.

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