facebook-pixel

Utah ranks No. 3 for protecting online privacy, study says

(Jeff Chiu | AP file photo) A man poses for photos in front of a computer showing Facebook ad preferences pages in San Francisco on March 26, 2018.

Utah ranks No. 3 in the nation for laws to protect privacy online, a new study says. But it adds that the Beehive State still scores a lowly 45% for adopting measures on a list of possible protections passed among the states.

That’s according to comparitech.com, a website that compares security, privacy and networking services.

With widely varying — and low — scores around the nation, it says people should not “expect their government to protect their privacy from all threats. It’s up to all of us as individuals to be proactive in guarding our privacy.”

It did praise Utah for taking better steps than most states to protect privacy.

“Utah is just one of two states in the entire country that bars internet service providers from sharing customer data with third parties without consent,” it said.

Also, the study praised it for requiring companies to dispose of customer data after a set period of time, and for a 2013 law that prohibits employers from asking employees and applicants from divulging their passwords or usernames for social media accounts.

The survey said the state with the strongest online privacy laws is California, which received a 75% score for adopting possible laws passed by some others, and Delaware was No. 2 with a 55% score.

The rankings said, “California has enacted many laws for specific privacy issues that other states ignore. What’s more, the state has also created what the ACLU called the most comprehensive digital privacy law in the nation. California is the only state to mention an inalienable right to privacy in its state constitution.”

At the other end of the spectrum, Wyoming received the lowest score, 5%.