Privacy by Default

California Dreamin’ – A Blueprint for CCPA/CPRA Compliance

California coastal photo

  New U.S. Privacy Laws Follow GDPR Trend With the approval of the CPRA citizen’s initiative (Consumer Privacy Reform Act amending the CCPA – Proposition 24) and the introduction of new privacy legislation in New York and elsewhere all moving toward a U.S. equivalent of GDPR, it is time to face the fact that U.S. privacy compliance obligations are here to stay. When GDPR enforcement began in 2018, many U.S. businesses that were not operating in the EU considered it something that was happening “over there.” Enforcement of the California CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) began in January 2020. Now, the hope of avoiding strict privacy compliance obligations “over here” is now only a dream. The CPRA amended and strengthened the CCPA, moving it closer to the protections afforded to EU citizens, and post-Brexit, to UK citizens. (Proposition 24 approved November 2020; Effective 1/1/23.) it is time to face the fact that U.S. privacy compliance obligations are here to stay There are privacy bills pending before the New York Assembly that like CCPA/CPRA adopt many of the key privacy principles staked out by the GDPR: Consent, Privacy by Design, Data Minimization, Lawful Purpose, and Information Security. In addition, both the California …

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GDPR Privacy by Default – Will the US Senate Follow Europe?

On May 25th, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a Senate resolution calling for U.S. companies and institutions covered by the European Union’s (EU) new privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), to provide Americans with privacy protections included in the European law. The 5 page Resolution summarizes the GDPR as requiring: that data processors have a legal basis for processing the data of users; and that opt-in, freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous consent from users is a primary legal basis. The Resolution is not a bill and has not yet been debated or adopted. However, it was symbolically introduced on the very same day that European GDPR became law. Many US enterprises are impacted by the new EU law, because they control or process the personal data of people in the EU. Some US companies have announced full compliance with the GDPR for all people worldwide. Others have geofenced and blocked EU data subjects. Others, like the Washington Post, have erected a supposedly compliant paywall to provide GDPR-compliant and ad-free access to the EU countries. The Markey Resolution “encourages entities” already covered by the impact of the …

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