On January 27, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) new one-to-one consent requirement will go into effect. For background, the FCC published its final rule targeting and eliminating unlawful text messages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) on January 26, 2024 (the Final Rule). Among other requirements and purposes, this Final Rule sought to close the “lead generator loophole.” Continue Reading FCC’s 1-to-1 Consent Requirement for Marketing Text Messages
Believe it or not, we are now more than halfway through 2024. As of July 1st, we now have additional state privacy laws in effect in Florida (narrow applicability), Oregon, and Texas – with more on the way later this year and into 2025. We thought it would be a good time to provide a recap on the current privacy law landscape in the United States today. Continue Reading Comprehensive State Privacy Laws – Halfway Through 2024 and Looking Ahead to 2025
Special thanks to Taft summer associates Tanner Wilburn and Lizzie Dobbins for their contributions to this post.
On June 20, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas vacated a portion of guidance issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding the use of online tracking technologies. This decision is beneficial to healthcare providers and other entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which use third-party tracking tools on their public-facing websites, but such entities should be cautious to not read the case too broadly.Continue Reading Federal Court Strikes Down HHS Rule on Website Tracking Technologies… To an Extent
As we discussed last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has increased its focus and its enforcement related to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), especially in the educational context. Now the FTC is taking further steps to secure and protect children’s information as online tools and technologies continue to quickly advance.
In December 2023, the FTC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to the COPPA rule that focuses on targeted advertising, push notifications, surveillance in the educational context, and providing more clarity on the exceptions under COPPA. According to the FTC Chair Linda M. Kah, “[t]he proposed changes to COPPA are much-needed, especially in an era where online tools are essential for navigating daily life—and where firms are deploying increasingly sophisticated digital tools to surveil children.” Moreover, the FTC issued a lengthy statement from Commissioner Alvaro M. Bedoy that attempts to dispel the critiques around COPPA and other regulations around children’s data collection, such as the critique that many violations of such data privacy statutes regulate conduct that does not involve a great deal of harm. Looking at all of the above, it is clear that the FTC believes new tools and technologies utilized by companies online are a major risk to children and that this new rulemaking is necessary to keep up with such new tools and technologies.Continue Reading Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Update: Part Deux! New FTC Rulemaking Proposal
Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024
11 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET
You read the news every day and maybe even receive notices yourself: data security and privacy compliance is a growing area of concern and risk for businesses. With security incidents on the rise across various industries of all sizes, as well as increased regulation of privacy and security-related issues, evaluating and addressing your current data governance program is a crucial step in protecting your business in the new year. Just
Continue Reading Webinar: 10 Privacy and Security Resolutions in the New Year
Last year, we discussed the growing focus and increased regulation on data brokers nationwide, including bills in California, Delaware, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington. Now, California has a new bill (S.B. 362) that would revamp its requirements on data brokers and provide California residents new rights over their personal information. The bill is now on California Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk for signature. The purpose of this bill is to address differences between existing data broker requirements and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).Continue Reading California’s New Data Broker Requirements
Over the last few years, there has been an increased focus on the collection of children’s personal information in the United States. For example, many states have begun passing laws that significantly increase regulation for businesses collecting personal information from children, see our previous discussion on California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act. Additionally, at the federal level, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has increased its focus on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), specifically in the educational context.Continue Reading Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Update! FTC Enforcement and New Parental Consent Proposal
As we previously covered in February, there has been an increase in lawsuits, including class actions, filed against website operators in various states (including California, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, and Pennsylvania) for violations of state wiretapping laws or the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (VPPA). Since then, there have been some updates to such pending litigation. For purposes of this post, the pending litigation can be broken out into three categories: (1) Chat window wiretapping claims; (2) Session replay technology claims; and (3) claims under the VPPA.Continue Reading UPDATE: Litigation Related to Website Technology & Data Sharing
Over the past year, there has been a growing number of lawsuits, including class actions, filed against website operators in various states (including California, Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania) for violations of state wiretapping laws or the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (“VPPA”).Continue Reading Heads Up! Increasing Litigation Related to Website Technology & Data Sharing
We recently provided an update regarding the California Privacy Protection Agency’s modified regulations (the “Regulations”) for the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CCPA”). In that update, we briefly discussed new requirements regarding website popups, including cookie banners.
The Regulations require Businesses to design and implement methods for consumers submitting CCPA requests and “obtaining consumer consent” that incorporate the following principles: