Groundbreaking, Privacy With One Click of a Button in Montana
I spotted an article on Twitter that highlighted some of the bipartisan privacy protections recently signed into law by Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT). Recorded Future News was highlighting legislation championed by State Senator Daniel Zolnikov (R-Billings) that he says would allow Montanans to have wide-ranging privacy with the click of one button.
The online outlet was reporting on Senate Bill 384, which was signed into law by Gov. Gianforte back on May 19th. How significant is this legislation when it comes to online privacy?
Sen. Zolnikov: I'm talking about your data online. So you go to different websites and everything. Pretend you could have it deleted, you could have it ported, you could opt out of being tracked, you could opt out of all that and even have the right to have your data corrected. And then there's provisions protecting children 13 to 16. I think under 13 there are already protections in place- and the right to opt out with the universal opt out mechanism. We did all of that. So in about a year and a half this bill became law that Montana has one of the strongest privacy consumer laws in the nation.
What else awaits the Governor's signature? sen. Zolnikov is also backing a DNA privacy bill that gives YOU ownership over your own DNA. This is Senate Bill 351.
Sen. Zolnikov: This bill, again, is monumental of protections for individuals. And I'll tell you, big tech is coming against it, Big Pharma is coming against it, because even if they're using research- well, I want to know if they're using my DNA. Because they say- well, it's de identified. Tell me how you de-identify my DNA, that literally you could find out it's my DNA by putting it on one of those Ancestry or 23 and Me's, and you find my second cousin on my mom's side, and my second cousin on my dad's side- and you know what, it narrows it down pretty close to my family only. So it'd be me or my three siblings. It is impossible to de-identify.