On Wednesday, August 24, 2022, the California Attorney General released a public statement addressing its first enforcement action under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) against Sephora. The Attorney General alleged that Sephora failed to disclose to consumers that it was selling personal information, it failed to honor requests submitted through Global Privacy Controls (“GPC”), and it failed to cure these violations within the 30-day period. The parties settled for a $1.2M fine and injunctive relief requiring Sephora to comply with the CCPA and accept GPC. Continue Reading First CCPA Enforcement Action Shows Accepting User-Enabled Global Privacy Controls Is Mandatory

Did you miss our Dec. 15, 2020, webinar? Is it a holiday wish come true or just the CCPA dressed up in an ugly sweater? Naughty or nice, the CPRA is here. You can watch a replay of the webinar below.

Our festive webinar discusses California’s newest data privacy law, the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act of 2020 (CPRA). Passed by ballot initiative during this year’s general election, the CPRA expands and modifies the California Consumer Privacy Act in several significant ways. This webinar covers some of the key changes brought by the CPRA and steps businesses can take now to prepare for this new law.

Continue Reading Webinar Replay: Is it a holiday wish come true or just the CCPA dressed up in an ugly sweater? Naughty or nice, the CPRA is here.

The November 2020 election left a lot of questions.  Among them, companies doing business in California are now asking about compliance with yet another California data privacy law, this time the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act of 2020 (the “CPRA”).  This article gives an overview addressing the what, when, and how of the CPRA.  (We won’t hazard a guess as to the why—we leave that to the backers of the new law.)

What is the CPRA?

The CPRA builds on the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”) in a number of key ways.  It includes: new consumer rights, new requirements for businesses, and a number of other miscellaneous changes.  Some parts of the CCPA will remain in effect, and others are rephrased or clarified.  We provide below a high-level overview of topics we believe businesses should be thinking about now as they look ahead to building-out their CPRA compliance programs.

Continue Reading You’re CCPA Compliant. So Now What? Top Tips for Companies Looking Ahead to the Recently-Passed CPRA

On October 12, 2020, the California Attorney General provided public notice of a new Proposed Third Set of Modifications to the Regulations under the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”).  You will be forgiven if you assumed that “final approval” of the existing Regulations back in August meant the Regulations were final—or at least we hope so because we made the same assumption.

Since August, however, it appears the AG was working behind the scenes to resurrect previously withdrawn Sections 999.306(b)(2) (covering offline notice of opt-out if a business substantially interacts with consumers offline); 999.315(c) (minimum standards for opt-out requests); and 999.326(c) (specific requirements for authorized agents).  The AG describes the newly proposed rules as follows:

Continue Reading Spooky: Presumed-Dead CCPA Regulations Come Back to Life

On August 14, 2020, the California Attorney General announced final approval of the California Consumer Privacy Act Regulations by the Office of Administrative Law.  The Regulations take effect immediately.

While the revisions made to the Final Regulations mostly consist of “non-substantive changes” to correct grammatical errors or clarify the wording of various provisions, business should be aware of the “global modifications” made in a few key areas.  These are summarized below along with our take on what they may mean for businesses:

Continue Reading Finally Final: CCPA Regulations Take Effect

If you’re like us, you’ve been anticipating an announcement from the California Attorney General about the types of companies it targeted in its initial enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), the types of violations the AG is interested in, and the types of arguments it is making in enforcing the Act.  While official word from the AG is unlikely before the end of the 30-day cure period following its initial notice letters, a member of the AG’s office did confirm during a recent panel discussion that the AG sent out those letters on July 1, 2020.

The statement was part of a fascinating and informative panel put on by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (“IAPP”).  It featured Stacey Schesser, Supervising Deputy Attorney General for the State of California and part of a multi-member team of attorneys in the AG’s office charged with enforcing the CCPA.  A recording is available on the IAPP’s website, and we encourage you to check it out if you’re a member.  In terms of the details gleaned from Ms. Schesser’s comments, here is what we know about the AG’s enforcement of the CCPA to-date:

Continue Reading California Attorney General CCPA Enforcement—Make Sure You Pay Attention to What Customers Are Saying on Twitter

On June 1, 2020, the California Attorney General submitted the final text of the CCPA Regulations to the California Office of Administrative Law (the “OAL”).  This was the last step the AG needed to take before the Regulations become enforceable.  But whether enforcement will still start on July 1, 2020 as set forth in the CCPA remains uncertain.

What does this mean for the timing of CCPA enforcement?

Some have questioned whether the AG’s delay in submitting the Regulations following the end of the last comment period in March signaled an intent by the AG to delay enforcement of the CCPA.  So far, however, there is no indication of any intended delay in either the AG’s press announcement regarding submission of the Final Regulations or his prior comments reiterating his intention to keep enforcement on track despite COVID-19.  Indeed, the AG requested expedited review of the Regulations by OAL in order to meet the July 1 deadline.

Continue Reading AG Submits Final CCPA Regulations—Is Enforcement Still on Track for July 1, 2020?

COVID-19 is delaying just about everything these days—except the CCPA.

In letters submitted on March 17 and March 20, a coalition of nearly sixty business and organizations called on California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to temporarily defer CCPA enforcement by six months to January 2, 2021 due to COVID-19. The coalition, which spans a range of industries including tech, telecommunications, advertising, retail, insurance, transportation and real estate, argued that a deferral of enforcement would allow businesses to prioritize the needs of their workforce during the global pandemic. The coalition also pointed to the still-changing nature of the CCPA’s regulations as grounds for a temporary enforcement hiatus, contending that businesses need time to implement the final CCPA requirements.

Continue Reading California Attorney General: CCPA Enforcement on Schedule Despite COVID-19

Here we go again.  On March 11, 2020, the California Attorney General (AG) published a second set of modifications to its Regulations under the California Consumer Privacy Act.  Unlike the AG’s modifications from just last month, the substantive changes this time are not quite so numerous.  There are, however, a few provisions worth noting.

As a general matter, the most significant changes this time around consist of undoing some of the additions made in the first set of modifications.  There is also some new language in the Regulations that provides further guidance for businesses that do not directly collect personal information as well as businesses working to draft CCPA-compliant privacy policies.

Continue Reading California Attorney General’s Second Set of Modified CCPA Regulations: Undoing, Redoing, Clarifying

“[P]rivacy legislation should have some kind of safe harbor provision in it so that companies understand that if they take certain steps, what they are doing is consistent with the law.”  Karen Zacharia, Chief Privacy Officer at Verizon

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides unparalleled rights for California residents with regard to data privacy.  The CCPA contains an expansive definition of “personal information” and establishes completely new data privacy entitlements for California consumers, including rights to access, delete and opt-out of the sale of personal information.  In addition, the CCPA provides new statutory damages and consumer private rights of action in the event of a data breach.

Continue Reading Industry Insight: The CCPA’s Elusive “Reasonable Security” Safe Harbor