Privacy and security continue to be at the forefront for legislatures across the nation, despite (or perhaps because of) the COVID-19 pandemic. In late May, with back-to-back amendments, Washington D.C. and Vermont significantly overhauled their data breach notification laws, including expansion of the definition of personal information, and heightened notice requirements. Now, Michigan may follow … Continue Reading
Most companies continue to grapple with compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which went into effect in January. Companies have overhauled their privacy programs and policies and designed new systems to comply with the CCPA. Now, the privacy-right activist group that sponsored the CCPA – Californians for Consumer Privacy – is pushing for … Continue Reading
The much anticipated California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) is now in effect (as of January 1, 2020), and as we’ve recently reported, class action litigation under the CCPA has already begun. Organizations should have already assessed whether their business is subject to the new law and if so, taken steps to ensure compliance. Likely, one … Continue Reading
As reported by Bloomberg Law, data breach class action litigation has begun under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Filed in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, a putative class action lawsuit against Hanna Andersson, LLC and its ecommerce platform provider, Salesforce.com, alleges negligence and a failure to maintain reasonable safeguards, among other … Continue Reading
With the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) effective for nearly one month, businesses continue to grapple with the many components of this new privacy framework. A key component of the CCPA is granting consumers the right to request information about and to exercise some control over their personal information. Developing sufficient mechanisms to receive, process … Continue Reading
Recently, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued an important opinion, concluding that Cambridge Analytica, LLC, the data analytics and consulting company, engaged in “deceptive practices to harvest personal information” of tens of millions social media users, by way of using their data from a company developed app, GSRapp, for voter profiling purposes without the users’ … Continue Reading
When privacy geeks talk “privacy,” it is not uncommon for them to use certain terms interchangeably –personal data, personal information, personally identifiable information, private information, individually identifiable information, protected health information, or individually identifiable health information. They might even speak in acronyms – PI, PII, PHI, NPI, etc. Blurring those distinctions might be OK for … Continue Reading
In response to trends, heightened public awareness, and a string of large-scale data breaches, states continue to enhance their data breach notification laws. In 2017, Maryland amended its Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) with expansion of the definition of personal information, modification of the definition of “breach of the security of the system,” establishing a 45-day … Continue Reading
Several weeks ago, we published a CCPA FAQS on Cookies, which provides a high-level look at how the impending CCPA may apply to website cookies. The CCPA’s definition of personal information is expansive, and in preparation for the CCPA it is easy to overlook certain elements of personal information, in particular website cookies. A cookie … Continue Reading
The Washington State Supreme Court ruled recently that state employees’ birthdates associated with their names are not exempt from disclosure pursuant to a freedom of information records request. In so holding, the Court strictly construed the applicable statute that did not expressly exempt birthdates from disclosure. Wash. Pub. Emps. Assn. v. State Ctr for Childhood … Continue Reading
On February 21, 2019, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Assemblymember Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) announced Assembly Bill 1130 which intended to strengthen and expand California’s existing data breach notification law. On September 11, 2019, the bill passed both houses of the legislature and was presented to Governor Gavin Newsom. Last Friday, October 11, 2019, … Continue Reading
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM)! NCSAM is an annual event designed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and co-led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCSA). NCSAM is a collaborative effort by both government and industry leaders intended to enhance public awareness regarding cybersecurity . … Continue Reading
For years now, state laws have required subject organizations to provide notification to affected data subjects and, in some instances, to state agencies, consumer reporting agencies, and the media, when they experience a “breach” of certain categories of information. And a growing number of states – including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Texas, and, most … Continue Reading
In response to trends, heightened public awareness, and a string of large-scale data breaches, states continue to enhance their data breach notification laws. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed into law an amendment to the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), SB 1624, effective January 1, 2020. PIPA will now require that most “data collectors,” which includes … Continue Reading
As businesses prepare for the effective date of the California Consumer Privacy Act, many are conducting data mapping to identify the personal information they collect, who it belongs to, how they use it, with whom they share it and whether they sell or disclose it. The information a business collects from this exercise will set … Continue Reading
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), considered the most expansive U.S. privacy laws to date, is set to take effect January 1, 2020. In short, the CCPA places limitations on the collection and sale of a consumer’s personal information and provides consumers certain rights with respect to their personal information. Wondering whether they will have … Continue Reading
On Thursday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law the Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (SHIELD Act), sponsored by Senator Kevin Thomas and Assemblymember Michael DenDekker. The SHIELD Act, which amends the State’s current data breach notification law, imposes more expansive data security and data breach notification requirements on companies, in … Continue Reading
Employers, you are not out of the CCPA woods yet. If you have been tracking the proposed amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), you know that businesses and stakeholders have been clamoring to shape the new sweeping law in a number of ways. We reported earlier this year on some of the potential … Continue Reading
Verizon recently published its 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report. This report is the 12th edition and contains an analysis of 41,686 security incidents with 2,013 confirmed breaches from 73 sources, including public and private entities. Included among its many findings, the report found high-level executives are twelve times more likely to be the target of … Continue Reading
As we recently noted, Washington state amended its data breach notification law on May 7 to expand the definition of “personal information” and shorten the notification deadline (among other changes). Not to be outdone by its sister state to the north, Oregon followed suit shortly thereafter—Senate Bill 684 passed unanimously in both legislative bodies on … Continue Reading
The California Senate Appropriations Committee recently blocked a bill that would expand a private right of action under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). As we reported, in late February, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson introduced Senate Bill 561, legislation intended to strengthen and clarify the CCPA. Then in April, the Senate … Continue Reading
As we noted last month, Washington’s efforts to follow California’s lead in passing its own GDPR-like law have stalled after the bill failed to make its way through the state’s House of Representatives—despite overwhelming approval in the Senate (where it passed 46-1). That bill’s sponsor has promised to revisit the issue during the 2020 legislative … Continue Reading
On May 10, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law P.L.2019, c.95. an amendment enhancing New Jersey’s data breach notification law by expanding the definition of personal information, and updating notification requirements. As we previously reported, the amendment was unanimously approved by the New Jersey General Assembly and Senate in late February. New Jersey’s data breach notification law … Continue Reading
A security lapse has exposed the data of at least 13.7 million user records of the high-end job recruitment site, Ladders. The company left a cloud-hosted search database exposed without a password. Ladders took the database offline less than an hour after the news website TechCrunch alerted the company after learning about the potential breach … Continue Reading
