Ron Lanton 6/7/22 Ron Lanton 6/7/22

California Privacy Regulator Releases Draft Regulations

The California Privacy Protection Agency, the regulator established by the California Privacy Rights Act in November 2020 has posted draft regulations for its upcoming June 8 Board meeting. The draft CPRA regulations can be viewed here.

The draft regulations do need work to clarify several issues. The draft does address privacy notice requirements, as well as how companies must notify its contractors and vendors to delete personal information as well as how to respond to opt out preference signals. The rules are forecasted to take effect on January 1, 2023.

Lanton Law is a national healthcare & technology law and government affairs firm. Our technology practice has been monitoring privacy developments nationwide. If you are a commerce, technology or healthcare/life science stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today.

Ron Lanton 3/16/22 Ron Lanton 3/16/22

Massachusetts Discussing Data Privacy Protection

Senator Creem and Senator Lesser have introduced S.46 titled “An Act Establishing the Massachusetts Information Privacy Act.” The bill can be found here.

Senator Creem and Senator Lesser have introduced S.46 titled “An Act Establishing the Massachusetts Information Privacy Act.” The bill can be found here. The Act applies to Massachusetts businesses that earn $10,000 or more annual revenue through 300 or more transactions or that process or maintain the personal information of 10,000 or more unique individuals during the course of a calendar year. The bill has protections on the collection of biometric or location information and seeks to prevent companies from discriminating based on consumer personal information. The MA Information Privacy Commission would also be created by this proposal to oversee this bill’s regulatory scheme.

This bill mirrors the efforts unleashed by the landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe which has been followed by efforts in California. Massachusetts did have a predecessor to S.46 in 2019 which stalled in the legislature.

The bill is currently in the Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity Committee. If you are a technology, healthcare or commerce stakeholder then this is something to keep a watch on.

Ron Lanton 5/21/21 Ron Lanton 5/21/21

New Bi-Partisan Privacy Bill Introduced

The Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act of 2021 has been reintroduced and is being led by Senators Kennedy (R-LA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Manchin (D-WV and Burr (R-NC). The proposal seeks to improve the transparency of online platforms, strengthen consumers’ options when a data breach occurs and ensure companies comply with privacy policies that protect consumers.

According to the bill’s press release the proposal seeks the following:

Give consumers the right to opt out and keep their information private by disabling data tracking and collection,
Provide users greater access to and control over their data,
Require terms of service agreements to be in plain language,
Ensure users have the ability to see what information about them has already been collected and shared,
Mandate that users be notified of a breach of their information within 72 hours,
Offer remedies for users when a breach occurs, and
Require that online platforms have a privacy program in place.

Lanton Law’s technology practice has been monitoring privacy developments nationwide. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today.