BILL NUMBER: S6797
SPONSOR: SKOUFIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general business law, in relation to prohibiting
data brokers from selling the personal information of current and former
military servicemembers
 
PURPOSE:
To prohibit data brokers from selling the personal information of
current and former military servicemembers
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends general business law by adding a new section 399-jj
which shall be unlawful for a data broker knowingly or recklessly to
sell a military servicemember list or personal data about any military
servicemember or member of their family without consent from such mili-
tary servicemembers. Provides various definitions. Provides a list of
exemptions due to federal law jurisdiction. States that if there is a
violation of this section, an application can be made to the attorney
general.
Section 2: Provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The data brokerage industry is a lucrative, multi-billion-dollar sector
made up of companies that collect, analyze, compile, and distribute data
on Americans through sales, licensing, and sharing agreements, while
also offering technology-based services using this data. Following the
revelation that data brokers were promoting information on both active
and former U.S. military personnel, a 2023 Duke University study aimed
to investigate and gain a deeper understanding of the issue.
The study found that this unregulated, multibillion-dollar industry
poses a significant risk to national security. The research team bought
data related to US servicemembers from US data brokers for as low as
$0.12 per record in some cases. Outside of being an invasion of privacy
for servicemembers and their families, the study found that the sale of
this information could be used by foreign intelligence services to
compromise, blackmail, and then coerce troops by releasing information
that damages servicemembers' reputations, stalking, and tailing person-
nel, or microtargeting personnel with particular messages.
This bill would protect New York servicemembers and their families by
prohibiting data brokers from selling their personal information.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
Senate
2024: S9540, Referred to Consumer Protections
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.