The federal government’s failure to act on children and teens’ online safety and privacy was called out in a Thursday hearing in Washington state's Senate Business Committee. Supporters of a bipartisan bill to protect minors online said that job is now up to the states.
Congressional Republicans increasingly appear interested in starting with state privacy laws as the basis for a comprehensive federal law, said Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, IAPP D.C. managing director, during an IAPP webinar Thursday. That wasn’t the approach with previous attempts at making a national law, he noted.
The EU needs a consistent approach to age assurance, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) said in a statement Wednesday after its Feb. 9 plenary. It set out specific guidance and high-level principles arising from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that it said should be considered when personal data is processed in the context of age verification.
Opponents of South Carolina’s age-appropriate design for social media bill should offer alternative language, rather than saying only that the bill can’t be done, suggested Sen. Sean Bennett (R) during a Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry subcommittee hearing Wednesday.
The U.S. shouldn’t rush to adopt comprehensive AI legislation, despite a growing patchwork of state regulations, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us Wednesday.
A significant proposed edit to the Maryland privacy law’s data minimization rule would be “a huge boon to the companies that already exploit our data,” Eric Null, Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) privacy & data project co-director, said Monday. However, Keir Lamont, Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) senior director-U.S. legislation, said the bill would bring clarity only for businesses that don’t handle sensitive data.
Illinois legislators introduced a slew of privacy measures last week, including a comprehensive bill, Delete Act proposal and multiple updates to the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
A Washington state House chair strongly supported letting individuals sue companies in comprehensive privacy legislation despite concerns that state and national industry groups raised about possibly making Washington the only state with that type of enforcement mechanism. At a livestreamed hearing Tuesday, the House Technology Committee heard support from consumer advocates and opposition from industry about HB-1671, a measure Rep. Shelley Kloba (D) introduced. Kloba hopes the bill can be scheduled for a committee vote next week, her office said after the hearing.
The Council of Europe has begun work on data protection and neurotechnology guidelines, which it expects to complete in around two years, sources told us. The interplay between neurotechnology and data protection is important given the growing use of the technology beyond the medical sphere, speakers said at a Data Protection Day conference in Brussels on Tuesday.
A Washington state privacy bill with a private right of action is scheduled for a first hearing on Feb. 4 at 10:30 a.m. PT in the House Technology Committee. Rep. Shelley Kloba (D) introduced HB-1671 on Tuesday.