privacy

Subscribe to privacy

On 6 October 2022, the Advocate General (Campos Sánchez-Bordona) issued his opinion in UI v Österreichische Post AG on the interpretation of the rules on civil liability under the GDPR .

He concluded that a data subject must have suffered harm in order to claim compensation, and that breach of the GDPR alone was not sufficient.  There is also a distinction to be drawn between mere upset (which does not give rise to a right for compensation) and non-material damage (which does).…

Continue Reading ‘Mere upset’ insufficient for compensation under the GDPR

The 2022 National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) Presidential Summit, held last week in Des Moines, Iowa, signaled a clear partnership between state AGs, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to accomplish Iowa AG Tom Miller’s “fight back” presidential initiative: Consumer Protection 2.0: Tech Threats and Tools. Picking up from the 2021 kickoff of Miller’s NAAG initiative this past December, the NAAG Summit featured a variety of speakers from the federal, state, and private sectors, including, most notably, from the FTC and CFPB.…

Continue Reading Guardians of the Consumer: State AGs team up with FTC and CFPB to protect consumers online – Consumer Protection 2.0: Tech, Threats, and Tools

With the continued rapid growth of both technological innovations and the market power of the companies spurring these innovations, calls for greater regulation and enforcement of companies in the technology sector are only growing louder. However, the same question continues to be asked – “how can governments regulate businesses they don’t fully understand?”…

Continue Reading Only Sheriff in Town? Not so fast: National Association of Attorneys General announces the formation of the Center on Cyber and Technology.

On 4 May 2022, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) launched a consultation (available here) to request views from the tech industry on potential interventions to enhance security and privacy requirements for firms running app stores and developers making apps.…

Continue Reading Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport launches consultation on app security

Maryland and California look to join the list of states that not only regulate biometric data but provide consumers with the opportunity to seek hefty statutory damages and attorney’s fees from offending businesses. Similar to Illinois’ oft-litigated Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”), both bills would also (i) require written consent prior to the collection of biometric information; (ii) impose BIPA-like security measures, and (iii) mandate specific retention criteria, as described below.
Continue Reading Maryland and California Propose Biometric Privacy Legislation that Would Include Illinois-Like Private Rights of Action

There’s no doubt 2022 will be a big year for data privacy compliance with three new laws going into effect in 2023. On January 1, 2023, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) will replace and amend California’s most recent, comprehensive data privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and Virginia’s first extensive privacy law, the Consumer Data Privacy Act (VCDPA), will also go into effect. Six months later, on July 1, 2023, Colorado will make history when its first, robust privacy law, the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA), goes into effect. If keeping up with the acronyms alone is difficult, ensuring compliance will likely take some work.
Continue Reading U.S. Data Privacy Compliance Roadmap for 2022

In one of the most highly anticipated judgments in recent years, the UK Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a class-action style compensation claim under the Data Protection Act 1998. The Supreme Court decision was handed down as a result of a claim raised against Google LLC (Google) by Richard Lloyd on behalf of four million data subjects.
…
Continue Reading Lloyd v. Google: Supreme Court rejects compensation claim

On October 5, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) via Assembly Bill 694. Businesses are eagerly awaiting clarification on many aspects of the CCPA and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) (the CPRA is set to go into effect on January 1, 2023, with a…

California’s new enforcement agency, the Consumer Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), recently held a meeting of its Board of Directors (Board), where they discussed the possible need to extend the July 1, 2022 CPRA rulemaking deadline and estimated that the updated privacy law, which takes effect in 2023, may require doubling the existing body of CCPA regulations. Key rulemaking topics discussed at the board meeting included rules covering new topics such as rules related to automated decision-making and the CPRA’s new data protection assessment and auditing requirements.

CPPA executive director and staff to be appointed

With a little over nine months until the CPRA regulations are supposed to be finalized, the CPPA is still working on making key staff and leadership appointments. The Board recently held an all-day closed session to review and discuss the applications for the executive director post, indicating it may be close to making a decision on that leadership post. In the preceding open session, members discussed the Chief Privacy Auditor role and the requirements for that new position. As for staff, the Board noted that the Attorney General’s (AG) office already has 10 people dedicated to CCPA-related work and discussed hiring five retired state employees that are attorneys for part-time positions.

Extension of the July 1, 2022 rules deadline

With the CPRA rulemaking deadline looming on July 1, 2022, Board members expressed concern about the CPPA’s ability to draft, revise, and finalize a large number of new rules in the time that remains. Based on this concern, the Board discussed asking the legislature for an extension, enacting temporary “emergency” regulations, or adding grace periods for compliance with the new rules. Emergency rules would allow the CPPA to introduce new rules on an expedited basis while extending the final rulemaking beyond the July 1, 2022 deadline.  …
Continue Reading California privacy update: New state enforcement agency leadership discuss extending CPRA rulemaking deadline and doubling the number of current CCPA regulations

Washington State legislators continue in their effort to pass only the second comprehensive privacy legislation in the U.S., the Washington Privacy Act (WPA).  Introduced on January 11, 2021, the WPA is currently making its way through committee hearings.  The debate continues, with the Washington State Senate Ways & Means Committee recently holding a public hearing to discuss the enforcement provision proposed in the WPA.  Currently, $1.4 million is proposed to the Washington State Attorney General’s office for enforcement of the WPA.  Some are calling for an increased budget, others for private right of action.
Continue Reading Washington State weighs enforcement mechanism for its comprehensive privacy bill