With the current limited exemptions under CCPA for employment and business-to-business related information set to expire January 1, 2021, there is uncertainty over when businesses should prepare to extend CCPA compliance efforts to this type of information. However, a pending amendment in the California senate, and/or the impending CPRA ballot initiative in November may bring clarity to the issue.
Continue Reading What Will Come First: Pending CCPA Amendment Could Clarify Key Exemptions
NIST’s new draft guidance, Special Publication 800-53B, Control Baselines for Information Systems and Organizations, provides important information on selecting both security and privacy control baselines for the Federal Government. These control baselines are from NIST Special Publication 800-53 and have been moved to this separate publication “so the SP 800-53 [can] serve as a consolidated catalog of security and privacy controls regardless of how those controls [are] used by different communities of interest.” The new guidance addresses federal information systems and is applicable to information systems used or operated by an agency, a contractor on behalf of an agency, or another organization on behalf of an agency.
Continue Reading NIST Issues Draft Guidance on Security and Privacy Control Baselines – SP 800-53B
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants held the government-debt exception of the TCPA unconstitutional under the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause. This means that going forward, companies that make “debt-collection” calls on behalf of the federal government can only do so with the prior express written consent of the called individuals.
Continue Reading TCPA’s 2015 Government-Debt Collection Exception Struck Down- Now What?
The EDPB has provided input about consent in its recent FAQs responding to the Schrems II invalidation of Privacy Shield. As we wrote about previously in this series, Schrems II impacted how companies transfer data from the EU to the U.S.. As background, under GDPR, consent from the individual can be relied on to transfer information from the EU to an entity outside of the EU’s borders if three conditions exist. The EDPB reminded companies of these three conditions in its FAQs, drawing on prior guidance about consent:
Continue Reading Schrems II Fallout Continued: Can Companies Rely on Consent?
Companies who transfer data from the EU to the U.S. are struggling to determine the appropriate basis under which they can make these transfers. Continuing our examination of the outcome of this decision, we think now about what companies can do for transfers of information from the EU to the U.S.
Continue Reading EU Reaction to the Fall of Privacy Shield: The Rise of SCCs?
U.S. companies are in a bind in the wake of the recent EU decision rejecting the validity of the Privacy Shield. While it is clear that the EU will not accept Privacy Shield participation as a basis for transferring data from the EU to the U.S., next steps for participants are unfortunately not clear cut. U.S. companies who participate in the Shield program face two decisions: (1) whether to continue participation in the Privacy Shield program and (2) what mechanism to rely on for data transfers from the EU to the U.S.
Continue Reading How to Rise from the Privacy Shield Ashes: A View from the U.S.
NIST recently released the final public draft of SP 800-172, Enhanced Security Requirements for Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information: A Supplement to NIST Special Publication 800-171 (formerly Draft NIST SP 800-171B). NIST is proposing additional security requirements for certain CUI in non-federal systems that is associated with critical programs or high value assets and is soliciting public comments through August 21, 2020.
Continue Reading NIST Proposes Draft Enhanced Security Requirements for Protecting CUI
Maine’s internet privacy law has survived its first challenge from internet service providers earlier this month. As we previously discussed, here, this law prohibits the sale of certain information about customers’ internet use by internet service providers and went into effect on July 1, 2020.
Continue Reading Maine Internet Privacy Law Survives Challenge
On July 16, 2020, in the case colloquially known as “Schrems II,” the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) struck down the EU-US Privacy Shield, finding it an invalid mechanism for transferring data from the EU to the US. The CJEU concluded that the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) are valid for the transfer of personal data outside the EU (which would include transfers to the US), with certain conditions.
Continue Reading CJEU Invalidates Privacy Shield, But Upholds SCCs with Conditions
HyperBeard, the makers of several children’s mobile apps (including KleptoCats), recently settled with the FTC over failure to obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting children’s personal information online, in violation of COPPA. In its complaint, the FTC argued that the HyperBeard apps were clearly directed to children. The apps contained brightly-colored animated characters, kid-friendly language, games that were easy to play, and were promoted on kids’ websites and publications.
Continue Reading KleptoCats Maker Settles with FTC Over Failure to Get Parental Consent
As a part of its Cybersecurity for IoT Program, NIST recently released two publications with the goal of providing cybersecurity guidance and best practices specific for companies manufacturing IoT devices. These publications were developed as a part of NIST’s implementation of the 2017 Executive Order on Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure. With these publications, NIST provides a set of recommended activities that manufacturers should consider to improve the securability of IoT devices, as well as a baseline level of security requirements for these devices.
Continue Reading NIST Releases Cybersecurity Guidance for Manufacturers of IoT Devices