Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., has reintroduced legislation to ban companies’ surreptitious collection of location data from smartphones and other electronic devices, rebooting a privacy-protection push the business community sought to squash.
The Location Privacy Protection Act, which Franken introduced Thursday and in the past Congress, would order companies to secure the permission of their customers before they gather location data from smartphones, tablets and navigation devices used in cars. The businesses also wouldn’t have the ability to share the information with third parties, unless they have the consent of their customers.
