Life, liberty, and the pursuit of privacy!

249 years ago, on July 18, 1776, after months of siege, military occupation, and battles, Bostonians gathered to hear a message newly arrived from the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. From the balcony of the Old State House, Colonel Thomas Crafts read out the words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” The Declaration of Independence had come to Boston.

The highest ideals of this nation have always been Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness — and we have always known these goals would be impossible without guaranteeing the fundamental, inalienable right of privacy.

Today, that means digital privacy.

We live so much of our lives online, sharing highly personal and sensitive information with companies on a daily basis. Today, there are virtually no limits on how they collect or use that information. That’s led to appalling abuses, like the sale of our cellphone location data on the open market.

We live under a harmful regime of digital governance that’s been developed largely without our consent — but as the Declaration says, we will always have an inalienable right to abolish or alter that regime.

Right now, Massachusetts state lawmakers are working on critical digital privacy legislation. The details aren’t final yet, so we need to call for the strongest language possible, including protections for location and health care data.

We declare that privacy is an essential right, and that strong legislation is the best way to secure that right.

Sign the declaration here: aclum.org/data-independence