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James O'Reilly is a Cybersecurity and Privacy Fellow in the firm’s Chicago office.

The Ninth Circuit continued the pause on California’s SB 976 (Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act) as of late January 2025. The law was signed by Governor Newsom in September 2024, and challenged by NetChoice shortly thereafter.Continue Reading California’s Kids’ Social Media Law Wrangling Continues, and Maryland Too!

At the end of 2024 the Italian Data Protection Authority issued a 15 million euro fine in the first generative AI-related case brought under GDPR. According to Garante (the Italian authority), OpenAI trained ChatGPT with users’ personal data without first identifying a proper legal basis for the activity, as required under GDPR. The Order also alleges that OpenAI failed to notify Garante about a data breach the company experienced in March 2023. Additionally, the Order states that OpenAI did not provide proper age verification mechanisms for users under age 13. Continue Reading Don’t Forget the EU: Italy Issued First GenAI Fine of €15 Million Alleging GDPR Violations 

New York has a new AI-related law which took effect January 1. The law regulates creation and use of digital replicas of an individual’s voice or likeness and is similar to those in California and Tennessee.Continue Reading New Year, New Protections for New York Artists and AI-Generated Replicas

The Federal Trade Commission recently settled complaints against two data brokers over their handling of consumers’ sensitive location information. The agency alleged that such practices constitute unfair practices. Under the settlement, both Gravy Analytics and Mobilewalla, agreed to stop using and selling sensitive consumer location data.Continue Reading FTC Keeps Sights on Data Brokers that Sell Sensitive Location Sites

In the fifth in our series of California developments, we turn to data broker obligations. There are two of note. First, the California privacy agency is moving forward Delete Act regulations it proposed earlier this year. (Its board voted to move regulations addressing data broker requirements to the Office of Administrative Law for review and approval last month.) Second, it announced an investigative sweep of compliance with the Act.Continue Reading California’s Privacy Regulator Had a Busy November, Data Broker Edition: What Does It Mean for Businesses?

In the fourth in our series of new CCPA regulations from California, we look at both cybersecurity audit obligations as well as the impact of the CCPA on the insurance industry.Continue Reading California’s Privacy Regulator Had a Busy November, Cybersecurity Audits and Insurance Edition: What Does It Mean for Businesses?

In the third in our series of new CCPA regulations from California, we look at obligations for conducting risk assessments under CCPA. CCPA had called on the California agency to promulgate rules to address such assessments, and when they would be needed.Continue Reading California’s Privacy Regulator Had a Busy November, Risk Assessment Edition: What Does It Mean for Businesses?

In the second in our series of new CCPA regulations from California, we look at proposed rules for use of automated decisionmaking technology. As a reminder, CCPA discusses these technologies in relation to profiling, namely “any form of automated processing of personal information” to analyze or predict people’s work performance, health, and personal preferences, among other things.Continue Reading California’s Privacy Regulator Had a Busy November, Automated Decisionmaking Edition: What Does It Mean for Businesses?

The California Privacy Protection Agency released proposed CCPA rules for a variety of topics in November, as well as announcing an investigative sweep for compliance with the Delete Act. Topics include the following, which we cover in this week’s California-focused blog posts:Continue Reading California’s Privacy Regulator Had a Busy November: What Does It Mean for Businesses?

The FTC updated its Negative Option Rule last month and gave it a new name to emphasize the expanded scope of programs to which it applies. It will now be the “Rule Concerning Recurring Subscriptions and Other Negative Option Programs.” The updated rule, as the FTC outlines, will now be applicable to nearly all forms of negative option marketing.Continue Reading Click! FTC Updates Its Negative Option Rule

The European Data Protection Board issued draft guidelines last month that outline when processing can be considered done for “legitimate interest.” The public has until November 20 to provide comments to the draft.Continue Reading How Legitimate Is Your Business Interest? The EDPB Has Some Thoughts