A New York Senate panel on Wednesday supported restricting biometric identifying technology in schools. The Senate Internet and Technology Committee voted by voice at a livestreamed meeting to advance S-3827 to the Education Committee.
Despite originating as a way to protect children from harms in the digital world, age-verification practices have morphed into a serious risk to privacy and digital rights, Rindala Alajaji, legislative activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), wrote in a blog Friday. “What started as a misguided attempt to protect minors from ‘explicit’ content online has spiraled into a tangled mess of privacy-invasive surveillance schemes affecting skincare products, dating apps, and even diet pills, threatening everyone’s right to privacy."
Privacy attorneys at Parker Poe predicted more state privacy rulemakings this year in a blog post Monday. “In 2025 we will likely see a higher volume of state regulators initiating rulemakings as a federal privacy law remains evasive and federal agency activity remains unclear.”
Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark (D) pressed her case for including a private right of action (PRA) in a proposed comprehensive state privacy law (S-71) at a Senate Institutions Committee hearing livestreamed Tuesday. However, a Republican committee member and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce pushed back against allowing individuals to sue. The Chamber witnesses urged lawmakers to instead pass a rival bill (S-93) to more closely align Vermont with privacy laws in other New England states.
DOJ’s new data transfer rule fundamentally changes how American companies should assess global data compliance, particularly concerning Chinese-related business, attorneys said in interviews.
The Latvian Data State Inspectorate published a list of data processing activities that don't require data protection assessments. The guidelines aim to give organizations a practical and clear approach to risk identification and management, the privacy watchdog said.
In the privacy and cybersecurity enforcement arena, state attorneys general have begun to broaden areas of interest and shift their focus to new technologies and data associated with them, said Morrison Foerster privacy lawyer Linda Clark during a MoForecast podcast episode Wednesday.
Montana senators overwhelmingly supported privacy bills aimed at education and government on Tuesday, sending them to the House. The Senate previously passed bills regulating neural privacy (see 2501290004) and revising Montana’s comprehensive privacy law (see 2502240069).
Companies should review the FTC’s new child privacy rules, even if the Trump administration is planning to alter what the Biden administration attempted to finalize, compliance attorneys at Akin Gump said Monday.
A California bill restricting how employers use workplace surveillance tools would go beyond laws in other states, cautioned Fisher Phillips lawyers in a blog post Monday.