David Kessler (US)

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To be or not to be . . . an “autodialer”

On April 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the question whether the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) definition of “autodialer” encompasses equipment that can “store” and dial telephone numbers, even if the device does not “us[e] a random or sequential number generator.” It does not. To qualify as an “automatic telephone dialing system,” a … Continue reading

Virginia’s new Consumer Data Protection Act

On March 2, 2021, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia signed into law the Consumer Data Protection Act, which contains many elements of California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2023. But first, you need to determine whether the law … Continue reading

US banking regulators propose a rule for 36-hour notice of breach

On December 18, 2020, the US Department of the Treasury (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) jointly announced a 53-page proposed rule that would require banks to notify their regulators within 36 hours of a “computer-security incident” that rises to the level of a “notification incident.” … Continue reading

Just when you thought it was safe—California AG issues proposed CCPA regulation changes

The California Attorney General has just issued some proposed revisions to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) regulations and our readers may be surprised by one of the proposed changes.  You may recall that California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) had rejected some the proposed CCPA regulations during the summer, but accepted most of them.  … Continue reading

NYAG Proposed Settlement for Credential Stuffing Attacks with 3-Business-Day Access Request Response

On September 15, 2020, the New York Attorney General (NYAG) announced a proposed settlement with Dunkin’ Brands, relating to brute force and credential stuffing attacks against members’ online accounts (including stored value cards). Dunkin’ does not admit or deny any of the NYAG’s allegations in the complaint. (New York v. Dunkin’ Brands, No. 451787/2019 (N.Y. … Continue reading

CCPA – Health Research Bill Passes Legislature

Although the bill to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to extend the so-called “B-to-B” and “employee” exceptions for one more year has garnered many headlines, the California legislature passed a second CCPA amendment (AB 713) that will be of interest to anyone involved in medical research as the new bill would ease some … Continue reading

Schrems II landmark ruling: our recommendations

On 16 July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) published its decision in the landmark case Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Ltd, Maximilian Schrems and intervening parties, Case C-311/18 (known as the Schrems II case).  While the EU-US Privacy Shield (Privacy Shield) has been completely invalidated, the Standard Contractual Clauses … Continue reading

Schrems II: The US Perspective and where do we go from here?

Schrems II calls into question all transfers of personal information out of the EU that involve export to a country without an adequacy finding.  While this affects countries in every region of the world, it does have particular ramifications for the US. US companies are likely to bear the brunt of this decision.  First, because … Continue reading

Cell phones, robocalls, and text messages – two pronouncements

On July 6, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the federal law that prohibits “robocalls” to cell phones but struck down the exception for collection of debts owed to the federal government.  (Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, No. 19–631 (July 6, 2020) (2020 WL 3633780).)  Previously, on June 25, a Bureau … Continue reading

Schrems II: AG deems SCCs valid but comes up with difficult new obligations and expresses “doubts” over privacy shield

What has happened? Yesterday, the Advocate General (“AG”) concluded that, in his opinion, the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”) are a valid mechanism to transfer personal data outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”). However, the AG suggested new obligations for those using SCCs. They need to examine the national security laws of the country … Continue reading

Here We Go Again: Another Ballot Initiative for CCPA in 2020

As companies get ready for the California Consumer Privacy Act’s (CCPA) effective date of January 1, 2020, compliance is complicated because there are still several moving variables: Draft regulations have been proposed but may not be final until after January 1, 2020. The recent amendments to CCPA include two important exceptions (business-to-business (B2B) and the … Continue reading

Mic Drop: California AG releases long-awaited CCPA Rulemaking

On October 10, 2019, with just weeks to go until the law goes into effect, the California Attorney General released the long-awaited draft regulations for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The proposed rules shed light on how the California AG is interpreting and will be enforcing key sections of the CCPA.  In the press … Continue reading

New York’s Breach Law Amendments and New Security Requirements

Although California has recently captured the lion’s share of attention with respect to privacy and security, on October 23, 2019, New York’s amended security breach law goes into effect, and on March 1, 2020, new security safeguards go live (N.Y. S.B. 5575). Anyone with personal information about a New York resident is potentially affected by … Continue reading

CCPA: “Wait and see” is not the right approach

We are seeing companies use many different approaches to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) compliance, but the “wait and see” approach in particular is not advisable. Companies who want to “wait and see” point to the pending amendments to CCPA that are currently working through the California Senate (as we have previously described—see links … Continue reading

US CLOUD Act and International Privacy

The U.S. Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (“CLOUD Act”) is apparently the Goldilocks of the privacy world, according to recent statements issued by two international jurisdictions. The CLOUD Act’s requirements are “too hard” for Australian law, according to the Law Council of Australia, but the privacy protections are “too soft” for the European … Continue reading

Back At The Negotiating Table: CCPA Amendments Debate Continues

In a 12-hour marathon hearing, the California Senate Judiciary Committee on July 9, 2019, debated, struck down, scaled back and put back on the negotiating table key amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). Read below to find out what happened to the much-anticipated “employee exception” bill, “customer loyalty program” bill, and the bill … Continue reading

CCPA: “Attorney General Amendment” Likely Dead

This is the Data Protection Report’s ninth blog post in a series of CCPA blog posts that will break down the major elements of the CCPA. Stay tuned for additional posts on the CCPA. On May 16, 2019, the California Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing that included S.B. 561, the “Attorney General amendment” to the … Continue reading

EDPB issues new opinion on interplay between Clinical Trials Regulation and the GDPR

On January 23, 2019, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) issued an opinion on the interplay between the Clinical Trials Regulation (“CTR”) and the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).… Continue reading
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