Updated April 12, 2021 at 11:30am: Sunday night's House session ended without a vote on the Washington Privacy Act. The House proposed twenty-five amendments to the bill that weren't debated prior to the end of the session, not allowing for a vote. At this time, it is unclear if the bill will still be under consideration. We will update as we learn more.
The state of Washington has made alterations to the proposed consumer privacy act, SB 5062, in the hopes that it can be the latest privacy legislation to pass. Previous attempts to pass the Washington Privacy Act have been halted due to disagreement on the limited private right of action. In an effort to compromise, adjustments have been made to that portion of the bipartisan bill.
Alaska has become the next state to move toward protecting consumer privacy at a state level. Governor Mike Dunleavy (R) introduced Senate Bill 116 and House Bill 159 on March, 31 2021.
One of the things 2020 should have prepared us for is the unexpected, and the Commonwealth of Virginia managed it with the mere three weeks from mid-January to the beginning of February that it took the General Assembly to introduce, debate, and favorably vote on the Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) (HB 2307 / SB 1392).
It looks like 2021 is going to be a big year for consumer privacy awareness. Apple recently announced its current release iOS 14.3 will introduce a new privacy information section along with a developer-reported summary of its app’s privacy practices. However, in a later release this information will appear as a Privacy “Nutrition Label” for app purchases within the App Store. The new release is a significant adjustment for developers and consumers, as it adds more transparency and awareness for app users.
On December 10, 2020, California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra proposed a new set of modifications to the CCPA regulations. The CCPA continues to evolve as these recent changes come less than two months after the last set of proposed changes.
Dan Clarke, President - IntraEdge
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) proposed updates continue to roll in as the third set of proposed modifications released by the California Department of Justice were submitted for comment through October 28, 2020. According to Michael Hellbusch of Rutan & Tucker, the latest modifications are a big deal for a lot of businesses and their websites. However, the biggest news is that the AG proposed these modifications at all especially being so close to the November 2020 election.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1281 on Tuesday, September 29, 2020. The bill extends the business-to-business and employee partial moratoria, also known as employee privacy rights, until the end of 2022.
Data breaches and technology are evolving at such a rapid rate. In the first half of 2020 alone, data breaches significantly increased by 273% compared to 2019, making privacy laws and regulations such as the CCPA paramount in protecting consumer rights. California is leading the way for privacy compliance, as the fifth-largest global economy, the CCPA forces many companies to address privacy compliance.
Privacy laws and regulations have transformed the relationship between businesses and the personal data they collect from consumers. The CCPA grants privacy rights to California’s consumers, which gives them the right to request access, delete, and modify their data. Granting these rights to individuals can place a significant burden on businesses because they must know exactly what data they hold, where, and in what context, which can be an extremely complex process to unfold.
