JALSA Submits Testimony in Support of The Location Shield Act, Data Privacy Legislation

April 9, 2025

Dear Chairs Moore and Farley-Bouvier:

The Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA) is a membership-based non-profit organization based in Boston, with thousands of members and supporters statewide. Guided by Jewish teachings and values, we are devoted to the defense of civil rights, the preservation of constitutional liberties, and the passionate pursuit of social, economic, racial, and environmental justice for all people.

JALSA wishes to offer its testimony in strong support of The Location Shield Act (H.86 An Act to Protect Location Privacy and S.197 An Act to Protect Safety and Privacy By Stopping the Sale of Location Data). Additionally, JALSA would also support more expansive omnibus legislation that would protect privacy and include The Location Shield Act.

We know that unscrupulous and unregulated data brokers currently routinely buy and sell personal location data from apps on our cellphones, revealing much about us without our knowledge. Moreover, these data brokers are not the only entities who procure, use, and abuse personal location data. Anybody can procure this data – including those seeking to perpetrate hate crimes driven by antisemitism or any other form of hatred.

We are living in a time of heightened hatred and bigotry. From 2022 to 2023, the number of recorded antisemitic incidents across New England skyrocketed by more than 200%, reaching a 40-year high for the region, according to a recent report. In Massachusetts specifically, the number of antisemitic incidents soared from 152 incidents in 2022 to 440 incidents in 2023. Massachusetts recorded the fifth-highest number of incidents per state in the entire country, following only California, New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Furthermore, these incidents touch all corners of the Commonwealth. 127 different municipalities across Massachusetts saw at least one antisemitic incident in 2023, an increase from 71 communities in 2022.

Imagine a white supremacist group buying the location data for those who enter a synagogue – or, for that matter, a mosque, a predominantly Black church, or any other place of worship that serves a community that could be targeted by those who are looking to commit violent acts driven by hate. Failure to address this violation of our privacy, when we have the means to protect people, is irresponsible and could lead to tragedy.

The voters who elected you have put their trust in you to enact laws that protect people in our Commonwealth. I can think of no better example way for you to live up to that responsibility than to enact this bill. In doing so, you may be preventing the next tragedy from taking place here in our state.

JALSA strongly urges the members of the Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, The Internet, and Cybersecurity to report H.86/S.197, The Location Shield Act, favorably out of committee as soon as possible. And, to support more expansive omnibus legislation that would protect privacy and include The Location Shield Act.

Sincerely,

Cindy Rowe
President and CEO
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action