New requirements to the Texas data breach statute, including a requirement to notify the Texas attorney general of a breach, are set to go into effect January 1, 2020. The legislation, signed by Texas Governor, Greg Abbot, on June 14, 2019, requires that the Texas attorney general be notified of a breach within 60 days. The AG notification is required only if 250 or more Texas residents are affected. The notification to the attorney…

The FTC recently settled with LightYear Dealer Technologies, maker of DealerBuilt software, over allegations that the company failed to provide adequate protection for the personal data it houses. The companies’ clients include many car dealers across the country, and allows those dealerships to house consumer information that is collected during the car purchase process. This information includes sensitive personal (Social Security numbers) and financial (payroll information and credit card numbers) information. According to the FTC…

Nevada recently amended its existing online privacy law to give Nevada residents the ability – in certain circumstances – to opt out of the sale of their data to third parties. The amendment goes into effect October 1, 2019, and modifies Nevada’s current requirement that website operators have privacy policies. As amended, companies who must comply with this opt-out requirement will be those who operate websites or online services and sell “covered information” to third…

The SEC recently issued a risk alert warning about using vendors and cloud-based platforms. Many broker dealers and investment advisors are turning to these third parties to store customer data. In its alert, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations warns firms that relying on those third parties’ security tools is not, in and of itself, sufficient for the companies to demonstrate compliance with Regulations S-P and S-ID. These regulations require broker-dealers and investment…

The Online Interest Based-Advertising Accountability Program, which enforces privacy principles for digital advertising, recently announced its 100th action. In announcing this landmark, the Accountability Program looked back at the nature of the cases it has brought, noting that it has covered both desktop and mobile issues, and its focus has fallen into a few key categories. These include providing consumers with “enhanced notice” of behavioral advertising activities and ensuring that opt-out tools exist (and that…

California legislators have passed many bills to amend the California Consumer Protection Act since the law was passed. Last week there was significant developments in the status of those bills, as we reported. In addition to dropping the concept of a private right of action for non-breach matters, there are other key things to keep in mind. Some are good news for corporations, but some pending bills that would have helped clarify the law are not moving forward.…

Whether your favorite movie is The Wizard of Oz or The Princess Bride, we can all agree there is some good news about the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) this Friday afternoon! SB 561 appears to have (mostly) died in the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing held yesterday. While the act as originally drafted only provided for Attorney General enforcement (except for one section addressing data security breaches), SB 561 added a private right…