🔒Maine businesses mount united front against data privacy bill

Dozens of business leaders from across Maine voiced their opposition to a data privacy bill they argue would deal a blow to the state's economy by prohibiting standard digital marketing practices. “We are on the precipice of placing Maine in a regulatory island,” Patrick Woodcock, president and CEO of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said at a press conference Tuesday morning at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. Standing shoulder to shoulder with executives from restaurants to tourism, Woodcock blasted a bill that would sharply curtail the ability of Maine businesses to use third-party data and location-based advertising to reach customers without additional consent. “It has been called a straitjacket on Maine businesses,” Woodcock told the crowd over the sounds of hockey sticks in the ice arena below during a Maine Mariners practice. “This is not the time to impose a straitjacket.” With data privacy already tested in dozens of states, Woodcock recommends that Maine follow proven best practices that balance consumer protections with tools businesses need to reach customers. “Let’s give consumers privacy while also protecting businesses," he said. LD 1822, introduced by state Rep. Amy Kuhn, D-Falmouth, passed both the Maine House and Senate in close preliminary votes. It is headed to another vote in the House as early as Thursday, the Legislature is next in session. If passed, it would echo a law that took effect in Maryland last year. The bill's supporters include the ACLU of Maine, which says the measure offers “meaningful protections” against surveillance threats to democracy and personal autonomy. GLAD Law, a Boston-based advocacy group, has touted the proposal as a “major step forward” for digital privacy.

Opposition letter

In Maine, more than 200 businesses, chambers of commerce and trade organizations — including several represented at Tuesday’s briefing — expressed their opposition to the bill in a March 31 letter addressed to state lawmakers and Gov. Janet Mills. They write that while they support meaningful consumer and data protections, LD 1822 is not a balanced approach and “would materially disrupt how businesses operate, market and compete by imposing real and immediate economic consequences across industries." Opponents include the Maine Mariners, whose CEO, Adam Goldberg, said that the bill threatens standard marketing business practices for a team with finances “on a knife’s edge every season.” “This legislation will not only affect our expense side to have to spend more on advertising,” he said, “but it could also affect the revenue by not attracting the proper amount of fans to bring in and buy tickets and merchandise.” Representatives from Sea Bags, Portland bar Three Dollar Deweys and the Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick also spoke at Tuesday’s press conference.

Ski industry risk

Dirk Gouwens, executive director of the Ski Maine Association, warned about the potential harm to the state’s ski industry, which depends heavily on digital marketing to reach customers and share up-to-date weather and ski conditions. He said that limiting those tools would make it harder for Maine ski areas to compete with rivals in New Hampshire and Vermont. If resorts in those states can communicate freely with Maine customers but resorts in this state cannot, “that puts us at a huge disadvantage,” he told Mainebiz.