Off to the Races: Comment Period for CPRA Proposed Regulations Begins
On Friday, July 8th, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CalPPA) began the formal rulemaking process to adopt proposed regulations to implement California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The initial written comment period will end on August 23, 2022 at 5:00 pm Pacific Time. To cap off the initial comment period, CalPPA will hold a public hearing on August 24th and 25th, during which the agency will accept oral comments and then close the first comment period.
The rulemaking process will take some time. Indeed, it is possible this initial rulemaking round will not be complete until after Thanksgiving. Revisions to the first draft are expected through likely multiple notice and comment rounds, in addition to deliberations by the CalPPA Board in noticed public meetings. Moreover, once the agency process is complete, the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) will review the proposed regulations to ensure they are consistent with the statute.
California AG’s First Formal CCPA Opinion Directs Businesses to Disclose Internally-Generated Inferences and Expresses Skepticism Around Trade Secret Claims
In its first formal opinion interpreting the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “Opinion”), the California Attorney General (OAG) has expansively interpreted CCPA to mean that inferences created internally by a business, including those based on data that is not included in the definition of personal information, constitute “specific pieces” of personal information “collected by a business” which must be produced to consumers upon request. The Opinion, which was issued on March 10, 2022 in response to a request for clarification submitted by Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, also addressed arguments that such inferences could constitute trade secrets and signaled the OAG’s unwillingness to accept “blanket assertions” that inferences constitute trade secrets or proprietary information, requiring instead that businesses explain why an inference constitutes a trade secret with greater particularity. We highlight below some of the more instructive elements of the opinion that provide insight into potential future enforcement. (more…)
California Privacy Agency: CPRA Regs Not Likely Until Late 2022
Final regulations implementing the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) may not be issued until Q3 or Q4 2022, as reported by Executive Director Soltani of the California Privacy Protection Agency (“CalPPA”) at its February 17th Board meeting. This means that businesses subject to CPRA will not have regulatory guidance on how to implement the CPRA until just months, or possibly weeks, before the law goes into effect on January 1, 2023, assuming the regulations are finalized before the effective date. This is a significant departure from the CPRA’s stated timeline of July 1, 2022 for the adoption of final regulations. While enforcement under CPRA cannot begin until July 1, 2023, and at that time enforcement can only address violations alleged to have occurred on or after that date, businesses are not well-served by the prospect of implementing the significant regulations required by the CPRA in half the statutorily allotted time. (more…)
CPRA Law + Tech Series
WEBINAR
Sidley Senior Managing Associate Sheri Porath Rockwell (Chair, California Lawyers Association Privacy Law Section) and Stacey Gray, Director of Legislative Research & Analysis at the Future of Privacy Forum, will be leading a multi-session webinar series, CPRA Law + Tech, that focuses on the technologies and data practices at the heart of emerging state privacy legislation, including the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). (more…)
5 Global Data Protection Trends To Watch In 2022
*This article was first published by Law360 on January 3, 2022.
A recent discussion with Elizabeth Denham and Claudia Berg of the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office provided ample food for thought on the direction in which data protection regulation both in the U.K. and internationally is headed, including key trends to watch for in data protection.
View article.
An Agency Is Born: California Appoints Board of Its New California Privacy Protection Agency
On March 17, 2021, California officials announced the appointment of five board members of the California Privacy Protection Agency ( the “CPPA”), the first data protection agency in the United States. The CPPA, created by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) which California voters approved in November 2020, is charged with promulgating the CPRA regulations; enforcing the CCPA and CPRA; and educating consumers about their privacy rights.
All Buttoned Up: The California AG Proposes Additional CCPA Regulations
On December 10, 2020, the California Attorney General (“AG”) proposed additional edits to the CCPA Regulations. These changes both build upon the updates that were proposed on October 12, 2020, and add some new content. All of the newly proposed changes relate to the right to opt-out of the sale of personal information. For a summary of all changes proposed on October 12, 2020, please see our post here.
CPRA’s Impact on CCPA Enforcement and Compliance
*This article originally appeared the Daily Journal on November 20, 2020
The passage of Proposition 24, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), amends 2018’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) by creating the nation’s first data privacy enforcement agency and expanding consumers’ rights with respect to their personal information. In this article, Sheri Porath Rockwell and Alexis Miller Buese highlight some of the significant features of the CPRA that are likely to impact consumers and businesses alike.
California Privacy Law Overhaul – Proposition 24 Passes
The results are in, and California voters have approved the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) which was listed on the ballot as Proposition 24. The law, most of which does not go into effect until January 1, 2023, will substantially overhaul and amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) which went into effect just this year, on January 1, 2020, with final regulations issued just a few months ago, on August 14, 2020. And indeed, CCPA obligations continue to evolve, with proposed amendments to the regulations proposed by the Attorney General’s Office mid-October 2020.
CCPA Update: Comment Period Closes on Third Round of Proposed Modifications to CCPA Regulations; CCPA Litigation Gaining Steam; Consumer Groups and Major Newspapers Urge “No” Vote on California’s Privacy Initiative
New privacy developments continue to come from California, with a new proposed modifications to CCPA regulations, continuing CCPA litigation, and voting beginning on Proposition 24, an initiative to overhaul the CCPA. We provide insight into each below.
Proposed Third Modified CCPA Regulations
In mid-October 2020, just a few months after the “finalization” of the regulations, the California Office of Attorney General proposed a handful of proposed modifications to regulations implementing the California Consumer Privacy Act. The abbreviated comment period for the proposed modifications closed on October 28th, which means the Attorney General must now review the comments, draft a response, and either further modify the proposed regulations or submit them in their current form for approval by the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL).