October 15, 2026
WHEN YOU RUN a small business, every marketing dollar matters.
At Dynamik Sports, we do not have the kind of 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 actually interested in our products and services instead of wasting money on broad marketing that may never reach the right audience.
That is why I am concerned about the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act currently 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 that give 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 not to adopt an approach that unintentionally 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 actually generated sales. It helps businesses make smarter decisions with limited resources.
While lawmakers understandably want safeguards around sensitive location data, the bill as currently drafted would prohibit some uses of precise geolocation data even when a consumer has affirmatively chosen to receive those services. The law should preserve practical and responsible uses that consumers knowingly choose and businesses rely on every day.
Digital advertising also helps level the playing field. Instead of spending huge amounts of money on television, radio, or mass-market advertising, smaller businesses can use affordable online tools to reach people more likely to be interested in what they sell.
Most consumers probably do not realize how much today’s small businesses depend on these tools simply to stay visible and competitive online.
Consumers may also be surprised by some of the tradeoffs created by overly rigid rules. 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.
That matters even more in Massachusetts, where many businesses are already juggling rising rents, payroll costs, insurance bills, and economic uncertainty. State leaders have also raised concerns about affordability, competitiveness, and retaining residents and younger workers as more people leave Massachusetts for lower-cost states.
This is not the time to make it harder for local businesses to compete.
As currently drafted, parts of 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 marketing costs, and make it more difficult for smaller businesses to attract new customers.
The largest corporations may be able to absorb those costs by hiring teams of lawyers, consultants, and compliance specialists. Small businesses usually cannot.
Supporters of these laws often point to small business exemptions or applicability thresholds. But in several states, those thresholds have gradually moved lower as privacy laws evolve, and even businesses that are technically exempt still feel the impact when the advertising tools, platforms, vendors, and service providers they rely on face new compliance costs and restrictions.
Those costs do not simply disappear. They are often passed down to smaller businesses and consumers.
That is one of the biggest concerns with overly rigid state privacy laws: They can unintentionally strengthen the largest companies while placing new burdens on smaller competitors and growing businesses.
We are already seeing examples of this elsewhere. Maryland recently enacted one of the country’s strictest privacy laws, triggering a wave of new compliance requirements and operational burdens for businesses. Similar proposals in Maine have also faced growing pushback from small business owners concerned about rising complexity, costs, and unintended economic consequences.
Massachusetts can still protect consumers without becoming an outlier.
Many states already 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 unintentionally undermine the digital tools small businesses now rely on every day.
Massachusetts has long been a leader in innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological progress. Policymakers should protect consumer privacy in a balanced and practical way — without making it harder for businesses and consumers to benefit from the useful, affordable, and innovative digital services people increasingly expect in everyday life.
Mark Doherty is the owner of Dynamik Sports, a sporting goods and custom team apparel store in Reading.
Courtesy of Commonwealth Beacon
