Montana Leads the Way with Two New Data Privacy Bills

​If you want to see what leadership looks like when it comes to protecting data privacy, head to Big Sky Country. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte just signed a bill limiting the state’s use of personal electronic data. That makes Montana the first state to pass a version of the federal bill known as the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act.
 
The chief provisions of the new Montana law include:
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• Government entities are prohibited from purchasing personal data without a warrant or subpoena issued by a court.
  
  
• Authorities may not access data from personal electronic devices unless the owner consents, a court agrees that there is probable cause, or the situation is a legitimate emergency.
  
  
• Courts must hold as inadmissible improperly obtained personal data.
  
  
• Service providers cannot be forced to disclose their customers’ personal data unless a court has granted permission.

There must be something in Montana’s clean, libertarian air these days, because the governor is expected to sign another pro-privacy bill soon. That bill bolsters the state’s existing consumer data privacy act, the Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act (MTCDPA), in several ways:

• Obvious (and straightforward) methods must be available for consumers to choose if they want their personal data sold or used for targeted advertising.
  
  
• Greatly increasing the number of organizations that are subject to the MTCDPA.
  
  
• The state’s Attorney General can now quickly respond to privacy act violators. No more 60-day waiting period.
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• The new law makes transparency more transparent. For example, privacy notices have to be clearly hyperlinked from websites or within apps.

We hear Montana is beautiful this time of year. If you go, take a moment to appreciate that your data is safer there than anywhere else in the country. Let’s hope that what happened in Montana last week will inspire federal lawmakers to follow suit and pass the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act.

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