You’ve probably seen a lot of privacy forecasts for 2022 during the past few weeks. Here’s one that reflects the collective thoughts of our diverse privacy team, which includes former high level officials from the FTC and State AG offices, and practitioners who have been advising clients about privacy for over 30 years.
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Last week, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 694, which makes a few technical changes to the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). The relevant changes to the CPRA are summarized below.
During last month’s California Privacy Protection Agency Board (CPPA) meeting, the only substantive agenda item, addressed in closed session, was a discussion of two key appointments: the first Executive Director and a Chief Privacy Auditor, as required by CPRA’s 1798.199.30. On October 4, 2021, the five-person CPPA board announced that they appointed
On September 22, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued an invitation for public comments as part of its first “preliminary” rulemaking activities. Established by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) ballot initiative last November, the CPPA has the authority to write rules that address some of the most technical and controversial topics addressed in
The Colorado Legislature recently passed the Colorado Privacy Act (“ColoPA”), joining Virginia and California as states with comprehensive privacy legislation. Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the bill (SB 21-190) into law on July 7, and ColoPA will go into effect on July 1, 2023.
How does the measure stack up against the VCDPA and the CCPA (as amended by CPRA)? The good news is that, in broad terms, ColoPA generally does not impose significant new requirements that aren’t addressed under the CCPA or VCDPA, but there are a few distinctions to note..
Continue Reading Privacy Law Update: Colorado Privacy Bill Becomes Law: How Does it Stack Up Against California and Virginia?
Last year’s voter guide to California Proposition 24, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), included a stark argument against enacting the privacy ballot initiative because it did not go far enough to protect employee privacy. “Currently, employers can obtain all kinds of personal information about their workers and even job applicants,” the argument against Proposition
Just a few months after California officials announced the nominations of the inaugural Board members of the California Privacy Protection Agency (“CalPPA”), the CalPPA released the agenda for its first board meeting on June 14, 2021. The meeting will be held remotely in accordance with California Executive Order N-29-20, but the public may still
The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), effective January 1, 2023, adds “contractors” to the list of entities that a business may entrust with customer data. So what is a “contractor?” And how are “contractors” different from other entities described by California privacy law, such as “service providers” or “third parties?”
As it turns out, the answer is surprising. Contractors are nearly identical to service providers, with just two differences: contractors are not data processors; and contractors must make a contractual certification in CCPA contracts. Moreover, contractors are not even new entities, and were already described in existing California privacy law.
Origins of “Contractors” in CCPA
To help explain the origins of the new contractor classification, we start with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Under the CCPA, now in effect, each disclosure of personal information from a covered business to another entity is regulated, either via consumer opt out preferences or via contractual restrictions. Altogether, there are three potential data flows described in the CCPA: business to third party, business to service provider, and business to a person who is not a third party. We describe each in turn:
As an example, selling a marketing list to a third party or sharing profile information with an adtech partner in most cases would be considered a sale of personal information to a third party.
Service providers provide technical, professional, and other business support to the business. For example, a service provider might offer various services such as cloud-based servers or software, consulting, or e-commerce fulfillment services.
This third option is significant to avoid the “sale” of personal information. If the recipient is not a third party, then a sale can only occur if the recipient is a “business” under CCPA. In many cases, the recipient will not be a business either, typically because the recipient does not determine the purposes and means of processing the personal information.
As an example, if an authorized reseller furnishes a manufacturer with a list of new orders for fulfillment, and the manufacturer agrees to use the list only to fulfill orders, the manufacturer is not a third party. Because the manufacturer does not determine the purposes and means of processing the personal information it receives, the manufacturer is not acting as a “business.” No sale occurs.
Similarly, if an identity verification service sends personal information to a company to assist that company with confirming the identity of an applicant for service, and the company agrees contractually to limit its use and disclosure of the information for business purposes, the recipient is not a third party or business and no sale occurs from the identity verification service to the business.
Here’s a summary of the entities that may receive personal data under the CCPA:
Continue Reading CPRA Update: What is a “Contractor?”
California officials today announced their nominees to be the five inaugural members of the California Privacy Protection Agency (“CPPA”) Board. Created by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), the CPPA will become a powerful, state-level privacy regulator long before its enforcement authority becomes effective in 2023, and today’s appointments move the CPPA one large step
Partner Aaron Burstein edited the Fall 2020 issue of Antitrust magazine with Janis Kestenbaum. If you’re looking to get up to speed on some of the most pressing regulatory issues surrounding personal data, this is the place to start — and the ABA is making free to access through the end of January.
