Google’s NDA request in Monroe County sparks privacy concerns

A Forsyth native says the NDA request highlights gaps in Georgia’s digital-privacy protections.

MONROE COUNTY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Google has already purchased land in Monroe County for a future data center, but when the company asked county leaders to sign a non-disclosure agreement, commissioners said no. It’s something one Forsyth native says highlights a larger issue with Georgia’s digital-privacy laws.

On Tuesday, Monroe County commissioners denied Google’s request for a non-disclosure agreement ahead of the company’s proposed data center.

County Attorney Ben Vaughn told officials that Georgia’s Open Records Act would override any NDA.

Public Information Officer Richard Dumas said the county is required to release records allowed under state law.

“The Georgia Open Records Act supersedes any non-disclosures the county commissioners could enter into, so anything that gets open-records requested to us that’s allowable under the law, we would have to provide no matter what we told Google,” he said.

Forsyth native Stephanie Deaton, a cybersecurity student, watched the vote closely. She said Google’s request reflects a larger problem with how few digital-privacy protections exist in Georgia.

“Georgia basically has zero privacy laws protecting us in the digital realm,” Deaton said.

Deaton has drafted the Identity Data Autonomy Act, a proposal she said would give Georgians more control over what information companies collect and sell. The draft is now under informal review by digital-governance expert Professor Karen Yeung and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

“The whole point of this bill and the constitutional amendment is to give us the right to consent,” Deaton said. “We should be able to consent and take away the consent any time we want to protect what companies collect and sell about us.”

Deaton said the debate over Google’s NDA shows why Georgia needs updated privacy protections as more tech companies move into rural communities.