Privacy & Cybersecurity

As we’ve been writing about in this space for some time, today marks the opening of the CCPA enforcement era.  Despite protestations from the business community, and requests for delay due to the lack of regulations until early June and the ongoing COVID-19 state of emergency, AG Xavier Becerra declined to extend the deadline, saying “Businesses have had since January 1 to comply with the law, and we are committed to enforcing it starting July 1.”

Just as businesses are gearing up for the start of enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), California cleared the way for the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”). The CPRA is an initiative imposing greater privacy restrictions on businesses holding consumer data, to be voted on as part of California’s November 2020 ballot.

More prevalent than ever before, Internet of Things (“IOT”) devices, a term that includes connected “smart” devices, such as internet connected TVs, wearables, smart speakers, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home, are fast becoming a staple of how we interact with each other, and obtain and consume entertainment and information.

In a proposed class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Google is facing a potential $5 billion dollar class action for alleged privacy law violations.  The complaint alleges that millions of Google users have been impacted and asks for damages of at least $5,000 per harmed individual.  Implicated are multiple Google offerings, including Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager, website plug-ins, and the Google Sign-In button leveraged by many websites.

Online stationery and craft company Minted Inc. has been hit with a CCPA class action lawsuit, stemming from a massive data breach the company disclosed in late May.  The proposed class action lawsuit, filed in a California federal court, claims that Minted Inc. failed to implement “reasonable security measures” and to properly encrypt certain personal information.

Klepto Cats and Dogs have been “stealing” children’s personal information without parental consent and using it for targeted advertising. Bad dog! Well, almost. HyperBeard, Inc., a developer of apps popular with children under 13 years old – including games like BunnyBuns, Chichens, MonkeyNauts, NomNoms, KleptoCats, and KleptoDogs – is in trouble with the FTC for alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (“COPPA Rule”).  

The B.O.T. Act went into effect in California last year. This law regulates “bots,” which are defined as “automated online account[s] where all or substantially all of the actions or posts of that account are not the result of a person.” Watch this 1-minute video explaining the B.O.T. law.

BIPA prohibits the unlawful collection and storing of biometric information and has very strict requirements. It broadly defines “biometric information” to include retina scans, iris scans, fingerprints, palm prints, voice recognition, facial-geometry recognition, DNA recognition, gait recognition, and scent recognition. Watch this 2-minute video explaining what you need to know about BIPA, how BIPA penalties work, and which states are looking to follow its lead.

This blog post focuses on the Illinois Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (“AIVIA”). Watch this 2-minute video explaining what AIVIA means for companies in the new digital world and in the COVID-19 remote environment. 

This post focuses on the California Consumer Protection Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”).  The CCPA went into effect on January 1, 2020, and its enforcement is set to begin on July 1, 2020.  We are already seeing a wave of privacy class actions with CCPA allegations and the resulting litigation trends. Watch this 3-minute video highlighting what you need to know about the CCPA, when it applies, and what consumer rights the companies must honor for California residents.

In these latest series of blog posts focusing on privacy litigation trends, we discuss four key privacy laws that will impact U.S.-based companies in 2020-2021. These laws are especially relevant for companies seeking to employ Artificial Intelligence (“AI”). Watch this 3-minute video explaining these key privacy laws.

The California AG’s office has dropped the long-awaited final CCPA Regulations, and requested expedited review from the Office of Administrative Law.    If this request is granted, the regulations will be effective by July 1.

In an unprecedented ruling, one federal court recently held that the work product doctrine does not protect the expert cybersecurity report prepared after a data breach.  The court ordered the release of the unredacted cybersecurity report, despite that it was prepared in anticipation of litigation at the direction of outside counsel.  Despite ordering the release of the report itself, the court denied (without prejudice) the class plaintiffs’ request to also compel the disclosure of the “related materials,” finding that these materials may still qualify for protection, and that this issue was not yet adequately briefed. 

Privacy risks of using big data in the fight against COVID-19 are significant, and have caught the attention of Republicans and Democrats alike. Earlier this month we reported on a bill introduced on May 7 by Republican members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee: the COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act of 2020.”  

The American Securities Association (“ASA”), a financial industry trade association representing regional and small financial services companies, has sued the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to prevent the SEC from using the Consolidated Audit Trail (the “CAT”) initiative to gather personal data of retail investors.

In the current environment, there exists historic levels of “dry powder” in the private equity industry. We have previously provided thoughts regarding challenges and opportunities facing the private equity industry generally.

Amidst multiple investigations into the privacy and security practices at Zoom Video Communications (“Zoom”), New York Attorney General Letitia James recently announced a settlement agreement with Zoom after the failings of the platform were brought to light by the spike in Zoom video conference participants amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last month, we reported that the United States Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, conducted a hearing on “Enlisting Big Data in the Fight Against Coronavirus.” Specifically, the Committee focused on “examin[ing] recent uses of aggregate and anonymized consumer data to identify potential hotspots of coronavirus transmission and to help accelerate the development of treatments.”

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