2018

This is the Data Protection Report’s fourth blog posts in a series of CCPA blog posts that will break down the major elements of the CCPA, which will culminate in a webinar on the CCPA in October. Stay tuned for additional blogs and information about our upcoming webinar on the CCPA.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA” or “Act”) includes significant and new disclosure requirements for businesses that collect and or sell or disclose California residents’ personal information. Below we have outlined: (1) disclosures businesses must make in their privacy policy; (2) disclosures businesses must make upon receipt of a “verifiable consumer request”; and (3) Norton Rose Fulbright’s takeaways.

Privacy policy disclosures

Upon the CCPA taking effect, a business’s privacy policy must affirmatively inform consumers of the categories of personal information collected about the consumer, the sources from which that information is collected, the commercial or business purpose for which the personal information is  collected, the categories of third parties the information will be shared with, and specific pieces of personal information collected about the consumer.  In addition, businesses must provide consumers with a description of their rights. Businesses should be cognizant that the Act specifically prohibits businesses from collecting additional categories of personal information and then using those new categories for purposes other than as disclosed.

The much discussed Cybersecurity Act 2018 (Act. 9 of 2018) (the Act), which was passed by the Singapore Parliament on 5 February 2018, came into force on 31 August 2018 [1]. The new law creates a regulatory framework for the monitoring and reporting of cybersecurity threats to essential services in Singapore through the appointment of the Commissioner of Cybersecurity.  It also creates a licensing regime that will require certain data security service providers in Singapore to be registered.

This is the Data Protection Report’s third blog post in a series of CCPA blog posts that will break down the major elements of the CCPA which will culminate in a webinar on the CCPA in October. This blog focuses on the CCPA’s broad definition of Personal Information. Stay tuned for additional blogs and information about our upcoming webinar on the CCPA.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA” or the “Act”) sets a new precedent with its sweeping definition of  Personal Information (“PI”).   The CCPA defines “[p]ersonal information” as any information that “identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.”

As a result of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, the Secretary of Defense implemented new disclosure obligations on software licensors whose software code has been reviewed or accessed by a foreign government. The Act was signed into law on August 13, 2018 and will significantly impact software licensors who engage with the federal government’s defense agencies relating to “obligations to foreign governments.”

This is the Data Protection Report’s second post in a series of blog posts that will break down the major elements of the CCPA which will culminate in a webinar on the CCPA in October. This blog focuses on covered entities. Stay tuned for additional posts and information about our upcoming webinar on the CCPA.

California’s new privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) grants California residents extensive new privacy rights. One of the more significant aspects of the law however, is the number of business entities to which it applies. Companies around the world must comply with the CCPA if they do business in California, collect consumers’ personal information, and determine the purposes and means of processing that information. Companies must also meet one of three criteria: (a) have annual gross revenue in excess of $25 million; (b) buy, receive, or sell personal information of at least 50,000 California consumers, households, or devices; or (c) derive at least 50% of its annual revenue from selling California consumers’ personal information. Consumer is defined as a natural person who is a California resident. The new rules may also apply to parent companies and subsidiaries that share common branding with the business.

On July 23 and 25, 2018, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) held public briefings about an attempt by a state-sponsored Russian hacking group to target control systems for U.S. electrical grids and power plants. DHS’ webinar explained that the hackers obtained access to vendors providing computer services to electric utilities companies. This initial access enabled the hackers to gain entry to power company control systems through a complex series of security compromises lasting quite some time.

On July 5, the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution, asking the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, to suspend the Privacy Shield framework. The EU-US Privacy Shield, designed by the US Department of Commerce and the European Commission, provides a mechanism for companies to transfer personal data between the EU and the US while remaining compliant with EU data protection laws.

The European Commission passed the data-sharing privacy framework on July 12, 2016, after its precursor, Safe Harbor, was struck down by the European Court of Justice on October 6, 2015.

Since the European Parliament’s resolution is non-binding, the European Commission could choose to ignore it.  However, the Commission will no doubt take the Parliament members’ concerns into consideration in its annual review of the Shield which is due in September.

Further discussions on whether to renegotiate the Privacy Shield is also on the table since the Shield is based on the now defunct EU directive 95/46, which the European Union General Data Protection Regulation replaced when it went into effect on May 25, 2018.

Several U.S. states have recently introduced and passed legislation to expand data breach notification rules and to mirror some of the protections provided by Europe’s newly enacted General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). See our previous blog posts on GDPR here and here.   Like their European counterparts, these state laws are intended to provide consumers with greater transparency and control over their personal data.  The California and Vermont laws, in particular, go beyond breach notification and require companies to make significant changes in their data processing operations. See our earlier post on the  California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) here.