Crawls the web, in Maryland

Md. Code Ann., Com. Law sections 14-3502, 14-3503 (Maryland Personal Information Protection Act, Title 14, Subtitle 35, added by 2007 Md. Laws ch. 531 (S.B. 194)) · Read the law's page

• This binds any business that owns, maintains, or licenses the personal information of a Maryland resident; a business already complying with the security, notification, or destruction rules set by its own primary or functional federal or State regulator, or already subject to and in compliance with all four of section 501(b) of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, section 216 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, the federal Interagency Guidelines Establishing Information Security Standards, and the federal Interagency Guidance on Response Programs, or with HIPAA, is deemed to comply with this duty.
• Absent that safe harbor, implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices, appropriate to the nature of the personal information held and the size of the business, to protect it from unauthorized access, use, modification, or disclosure.
• When destroying a customer's, an employee's, or a former employee's records containing personal information, take reasonable steps to protect against unauthorized access to or use of that information, weighing the sensitivity of the records, the size of the business, the cost of different destruction methods, and available technology.
• Where a nonaffiliated third-party service provider will receive personal information under a written contract entered into on or after January 1, 2009, require by that contract that the provider also implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the information disclosed.
• A violation is an unfair or deceptive trade practice enforced by the Office of the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division, for injunctive relief and a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation ($25,000 for a repeat violation); any person harmed may also bring a private action for injury or loss, and Title 13's own misdemeanor provision may extend to a violation of this duty.

Md. Code Ann., Crim. Law § 7-302 · Read the law's page

• Do not access, or exceed authorized access to, a Maryland-connected computer network, system, or database intentionally and without authorization; the statute defines access but never authorization, so whether an unrestricted public page counts as authorized is unsettled rather than resolved by its text.
• A violation exposes you to a civil suit by anyone who suffers a specific and direct injury, with actual damages and attorney's fees recoverable, independent of and in addition to any criminal exposure and independent of MODPA's own enforcement scheme.

Md. Code Com. Law § 14-4601 et seq. as originally enacted (2024 Md. Laws ch. 454, HB 567), now codified at § 14-4701 et seq. · Read the law's page

• Never treat biometric data you collect about a Maryland consumer without that consumer's knowledge as publicly available, even if the source photo or recording appeared on a public page; MODPA's own carve-back excludes it from the exemption regardless.
• Limit any personal data you collect on a Maryland consumer to what is reasonably necessary and proportionate to the specific product or service they requested.
• If you meet MODPA's 35,000-consumer or 10,000-consumer-plus-20%-revenue thresholds, expect enforcement through the enforcement provisions of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act; the Act does not incorporate that Act's private action for damages.