California

Subscribe to California

On September 5, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California held that a class action arising from a 2016 Uber Technologies Inc. (“Uber”) data breach must proceed to arbitration. The case was initially filed after a 2016 data breach that affected approximately 600,000 Uber drivers and 57 million Uber customers.  Continue Reading Uber Data Breach Class Action Must Proceed to Arbitration

On August 31, 2018, the California State Legislature passed SB-1121, a bill that delays enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) and makes other modest amendments to the law. The bill now goes to the Governor for signing. The provisions of the CCPA will become operative on January 1, 2020. As we have previously reported, the CCPA introduces key privacy requirements for businesses. The Act was passed quickly by California lawmakers in an effort to remove a ballot initiative of the same name from the November 6, 2018, statewide ballot. The CCPA’s hasty passage resulted in a number of drafting errors and inconsistencies in the law, which SB-1121 seeks to remedy. The amendments to the CCPA are primarily technical, with few substantive changes. Continue Reading CCPA Amended: Enforcement Delayed, Few Substantive Changes Made

On August 22, 2018, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra raised significant concerns regarding the recently enacted California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) in a letter addressed to the CCPA’s sponsors, Assemblyman Ed Chau and Senator Robert Hertzberg. Writing to “reemphasize what [he] expressed previously to [them] and [state] legislative leaders and Governor Brown,” Attorney General Becerra highlighted what he described as five primary flaws that, if unresolved, will undermine the intention behind and effective enforcement of the CCPA. Continue Reading California AG Voices Concern About State’s New Privacy Law

As reported in BNA Privacy Law Watch, a California legislative proposal would allocate additional resources to the California Attorney General’s office to facilitate the development of regulations required under the recently enacted California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”). CCPA was enacted in June 2018 and takes effect January 1, 2020. CCPA requires the California Attorney General to issue certain regulations prior to the effective date, including, among others, (1) to update the categories of data that constitute “personal information” under CCPA, and (2) certain additional regulations governing compliance (such as how a business may verify a consumer’s request made pursuant to CCPA). The proposal, which was presented in two budget bills, would allocate $700,000 and five staff positions to the California Attorney General’s office to aid in the development of the required regulations. The legislature is expected to pass the relevant funding measure by August 31, 2018. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has stated that he expects his office will issue its final rules under CCPA in June 2019.

On July 11, 2018, computer manufacturer Lenovo Group Ltd. (“Lenovo”) agreed to a proposed $8.3 million settlement in the hopes of resolving consumer class claims regarding pop-up ad software Lenovo pre-installed on its laptops. Lenovo issued a press release stating that, “while Lenovo disagrees with allegations contained in these complaints, we are pleased to bring this matter to a close after 2-1/2 years.” Continue Reading Lenovo Reaches Proposed $8.3 Million Settlement Agreement

During the week of June 25, 2018, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP hosted its annual executive retreat in San Francisco, California. The annual event consisted of a closed pre-retreat session for CIPL members, a CIPL Panel at the APPA Forum Open session followed by a CIPL reception and dinner and a special all day workshop with data protection commissioner members of the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (“APPA”) on Accountable AI. Continue Reading CIPL Hosts Special Executive Retreat with APPA Privacy Commissioners on Accountable AI

On July 2, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission announced that California company ReadyTech Corporation (“ReadyTech”) agreed to settle FTC allegations that ReadyTech misrepresented it was in the process of being certified as compliant with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (“Privacy Shield”) framework for lawfully transferring consumer data from the European Union to the United States. Continue Reading California Corporation Settles FTC Complaint Regarding EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Compliance Claim

As reported in BNA Privacy Law Watch, on June 27, 2018, Equifax entered into a consent order (the “Order”) with 8 state banking regulators (the “Multi-State Regulatory Agencies”), including those in New York and California, arising from the company’s 2017 data breach that exposed the personal information of 143 million consumers. Continue Reading Equifax Enters Into Consent Order with State Banking Regulators Regarding 2017 Data Breach

On June 28, 2018, the Governor of California signed AB 375, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “Act”). The Act introduces key privacy requirements for businesses, and was passed quickly by California lawmakers in an effort to remove a ballot initiative of the same name from the November 6, 2018, statewide ballot. We previously reported on the relevant ballot initiative. The Act will take effect January 1, 2020. Continue Reading California Consumer Privacy Act Signed, Introduces Key Privacy Requirements for Businesses

On June 21, 2018, California lawmakers introduced AB 375, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “Bill”). If enacted and signed by the Governor by June 28, 2018, the Bill would introduce key privacy requirements for businesses, but would also result in the removal of a ballot initiative of the same name from the November 6, 2018, statewide ballot. We previously reported on the relevant ballot initiative. Continue Reading California Assembly Bill Aims to Avert State Ballot Initiative Related to Privacy