Maine prohibits marketing to minors

Last week, the state of Maine passed a law prohibiting marketing using personal information to minors without verifiable consent from a parent or guardian. From what I understand, this law started out as a prohibition on using health information for marketing and expanded to any personal information.
The law defines personal information as:

4. Personal information. “Personal information” means individually identifiable information, including:

A. An individual’s first name, or first initial, and last name;
B. A home or other physical address;
C. A social security number;
D. A driver’s license number or state identification card number; and
E. Information concerning a minor that is collected in combination with an identifier described in this subsection.

While this law is less onerous on marketers than the Utah and Michigan laws, it will make marketing in Maine more challenging than in other states.
Findlaw review
Campaign for commercial-free childhood review
Privacy Law Blog review

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