KEYRIS MANZANARES: In today's digital world, privacy is virtually non-existent.

Advertisers can track your activity and use your personal data for a range of things from marketing products to pushing political ads.

DAVE MARSDEN: The Consumer Data Protection Act was legislation that I introduced several years ago to start protecting people's data and their data privacy.

KEYRIS MANZNARES: That's Senator Dave Marsden of Fairfax, who championed Virginia's successful effort to pass a data privacy law.

DAVE MARSDEN: Quite simply, if you are getting targeted ads from a particular source, you can notify them, I no longer want them, I no longer desire to have them sent to me and they will purportedly stop.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Virginia is only the second state to pass a data privacy law.

And what makes it powerful is that it's enforced by the state's attorney general and those protections extend to children, who are increasingly affected by online tracking.

TANIA FERNANDEZ: I believe that targeted ads are an issue for parents first because children shouldn't be profiled at such early age.

I think that they should be protected by a certain amount of privacy that we're all entitled to but specifically minors.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Tania Fernandez is a mother of two, ages thirteen and eight.

She says she's vigilant when it comes to their digital footprint.

TANIA FERNANDEZ: And we do need support from our government, from our community to say it's not okay for you to experiment with our children.