Kade Crockford on the Surveillance Economy and What Massachusetts’ New Privacy Law Means for You

About this episode

In this week’s episode, Jennifer is joined by Kade Crockford, Director of Technology and Justice Programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts. With 15 years of experience in privacy advocacy, Kade is a nationally recognized expert on surveillance, civil liberties, and the intersection of technology and individual rights. Kade has built coalitions across political lines, driving reforms in facial recognition and police surveillance and pushing for stronger data privacy protections. Her work has been featured in leading media outlets, and she is known for championing pragmatic, bipartisan solutions to safeguarding private information in the digital age.

The conversation dives deep into Massachusetts's data privacy landscape after both chambers unanimously passed new privacy laws. Jennifer and Kade discuss the dangers of the surveillance economy, debunk the myth that hyper-intrusive data collection is necessary for the modern internet, and examine the anti-competitive, harmful business models of tech giants like Meta and Google. Kade details alarming real-world cases where data broker sales have directly led to violence, exposes critical gaps in federal health privacy protections, and lays out concrete recommendations for effective state legislation, emphasizing strict data minimization and meaningful enforcement. Controversial points include challenges to industry narratives, the bipartisan failures to enact federal privacy regulation, and the urgent, often overlooked threats posed by generative AI and the data broker ecosystem.

“It’s not just hypothetical, the idea that someone could access information from a data broker and actually use it to physically harm you.” ~Kade Crockford

This week on Political Contessa:

• The rise of the surveillance economy and bipartisan support for privacy legislation in Massachusetts
• The business model of surveillance advertising and its negative impacts on privacy and competition
• Sale of geolocation and sensitive health data by data brokers to the highest bidder
• Real-life cases of violence enabled by data broker information leaks
• Insufficiency of federal privacy laws like HIPAA to protect modern digital health data
• The inadequacy of click-through consent as a privacy safeguard
• Data minimization and outright bans on the sale of sensitive personal data
• Generative AI’s enablement of sophisticated scams using personal information and voice imitation

Connect with Kade Crockford & Resources:

• ACLU of Massachusetts:https://www.aclu.org/bios/kade-crockford
• Get involved: Contact your Massachusetts state representative or senator regarding strong enforcement and privacy rules
• Jane Doe Inc. (anti-domestic violence coalition partner):https://www.janedoe.org/

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