Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On May 3, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law fiscal bill A.3007C/S.4007, which contains provisions prohibiting the establishment of a geofence around health care facilities.

Specifically, the law prohibits any person or entity from establishing a geofence or similar virtual boundary around any health care facility, other than health care facilities owned by the person or entity, for the purposes of (1) delivering by electronic means a digital advertisement to a user; (2) building consumer profiles; or (3) inferring the health status, medical condition, or medical treatment of any person at or within the health care facility. The law also prohibits delivering by electronic means any digital advertisement to a user at or within such health care facility through the use of geofencing or similar virtual boundary.

The law defines “health care facility” as any entity that provides medical care or related services, and “geofencing” as any location detection technology that establishes a virtual boundary with a radius of eight hundred and fifty feet or less around a particular location. 

The geofencing provisions will enter into force on July 2, 2023, 60 days after the bill was signed into law.