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When you run a small business, every marketing dollar matters.
At Dynamik Sports, we do not have the advertising budget large national companies do. Like many Massachusetts small businesses, we rely on affordable online advertising and digital tools to reach customers who are genuinely interested in our products and services instead of wasting money on marketing that may never reach the right audience.
That is why I am concerned about the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act under consideration on Beacon Hill.
Consumer privacy matters, and businesses should be responsible about how they handle customer information. Most small business owners support clear rules, giving people transparency and meaningful choices about their data. Customer trust is essential to our success.
But as lawmakers debate the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act, they should be careful to avoid an approach that makes it harder and more expensive for local businesses to compete, grow, and innovate online.
For many small businesses, “data” simply means understanding which ads are working, how customers found our website, what products people are interested in, or whether a marketing campaign generated sales. It helps businesses make smarter decisions with limited resources.
While lawmakers understandably want safeguards around sensitive location data, the bill as drafted would prohibit some uses of location data even when a consumer has affirmatively chosen to receive those services.
People have grown accustomed to personalized recommendations, relevant local advertising, easier online shopping experiences, and free or low-cost digital services supported by advertising. Some of those experiences could become less useful, less personalized, and more expensive.
This is not the time to make it harder for local businesses to compete.
As currently drafted, the bill would sharply limit how businesses can use some types of ordinary customer and advertising information for marketing, analytics, and customer outreach. That could reduce the effectiveness of online advertising, increase costs, and make it harder for smaller businesses to attract customers.
Those costs do not simply disappear. They are often passed down to smaller businesses and consumers.
Overly rigid state privacy laws can unintentionally strengthen the largest companies while placing new burdens on smaller competitors and growing businesses.
We are already seeing examples of this. Maryland recently enacted one of the country’s strictest privacy laws, triggering new compliance requirements and burdens for businesses. Proposals in Maine have faced pushback from small business owners concerned about complexity, costs, and unintended economic consequences.
Massachusetts can protect consumers without becoming an outlier.
Many states provide residents with important privacy rights, including the ability to access, delete, and opt out of certain uses of their data. Before lawmakers finalize the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act, they should build on those protections while avoiding rules that undermine digital tools small businesses rely on every day.
Massachusetts has long been a leader in innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology. Policymakers should protect consumer privacy in a balanced and practical way — without making it harder for businesses and consumers to benefit from useful, affordable, and innovative digital services people expect in everyday life.
Mark Doherty, owner of Dynamik Sports in Reading
