In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Texas law requiring age verification for access to porn sites (see 2506270015 and 2501130012). The majority in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton sided with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in support of HB-1181, which the adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition said violates the First Amendment (see 2409170012).
A district court on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction against a 2024 Georgia law aimed at protecting kids by requiring age verification and parental consent for minors to create social media accounts. However, Georgia's attorney general signaled that the state will continue to fight for the law.
California senators weighed the merits of a workplace surveillance bill during a hearing Wednesday. Proponents praised AB-1331 for limiting monitoring of surveillance footage, while opponents argued that reducing surveillance could prompt a rise in crime and violence.
Managing AI privacy concerns in an organization requires expanding existing frameworks but also increasing collaboration across the business in acknowledgment of AI's wide potential to touch many areas, panelists said during an IAPP webinar on Tuesday.
As some regulators expand their focus on protecting children online to include teens, industry is complying with new laws while seeking workarounds and/or challenging regulation in courts, panelists said during a Morrison Foerster webinar Monday. The struggle will continue for a while, they added.
The New York Child Data Protection Act (NYCDPA), which took effect Friday, is unique for many reasons, including its age-flag requirement and because New York lacks a comprehensive law covering users of all ages, experts said in interviews. However, like a good deal of privacy and online safety regulations, it may face legal challenges, said Jason Oliveri, data privacy partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson.
In a decision with nationwide implications, the U.S. District Court for Northern Texas on Wednesday vacated a majority of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's (HIPAA) Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services motion to dismiss the suit, case 24-00228, was also denied.
A district court preliminarily enjoined a Mississippi social media age-verification law for the second time Wednesday, ruling it's too broad to survive a First Amendment challenge. The U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi previously enjoined the same law, HB-1126, in July 2024 (see 2407010062).
The New Jersey Supreme Court upheld Daniel’s Law in a decision Tuesday, rejecting a journalist’s First Amendment challenge to the statute that aims to protect certain public officials' personal information.
Objections to the proposed sale of genetic data in the 23andMe bankruptcy case continued piling up in court this week. They came from a range of affected parties, including states and customers of the biotechnology company.