On April 4, 2024, the Kentucky Governor Andy Brashear signed HB 15, enacting the Kentucky Consumer Data Protection Act (“KCDPA” or the “Act”), to make Kentucky the 15th US state to adopt a comprehensive privacy law. Kentucky joins New Hampshire and New Jersey in a trifecta of states that have enacted privacy legislation in the opening months of 2024. In the days since the KCDPA’s signing, the consumer privacy stakes have been raised, with the…
In brief Surrounded by an improbable retinue of country music stars and state lawmakers, on March 21, 2024 Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed HB 2091, which amends the state’s right of publicity statute to create the Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act of 2024 (the “ELVIS Act”). The ELVIS Act is billed as the first law to protect “songwriters, performers, and music industry professionals’ voice from the misuse of artificial intelligence.” The ELVIS Act…
On February 8, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously adopted a declaratory ruling deeming telephone calls using AI-generated voices subject to Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) restrictions on calls containing an “artificial or prerecorded voice”. According to the ruling, § 227 of the TCPA, which prohibits the initiation of “any telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or pre-recorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express consent of the…
On February 28, President Biden issued Executive Order 14117 (the EO) directing the US Attorney General and other agencies to promulgate regulations that restrict and, in some cases, prohibit transactions that might involve the sharing of sensitive personal data and government-related data with “countries of concern” (currently China, including Hong Kong and Macau, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela). In tandem, the Department of Justice (DoJ) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM)…
On January 18, 2024, the New Hampshire legislature passed SB255, making the Granite State the 14th US state to pass a consumer privacy law—and the second state to do so in January. Following enrolment—a formality to excise clerical errors—the bill will move to Governor Chris Sununu’s desk for final enactment. If it becomes law, SB255 will go into effect on January 1, 2025, giving businesses less than one year to ensure compliance with the new…
28 January 2024 is Data Protection Day (or Data Privacy Day outside of Europe), which marks the anniversary of the Council of Europe’s Convention 108. Data Privacy Day encourages the global community to think about the importance of respecting privacy, safeguarding data, and enabling trust. In an increasingly connected and digitized world, where data protection, privacy and cybersecurity regulation are rapidly evolving, the work of the global data community is more vital, and more challenging,…
Sending a clear message, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the settlement of two separate enforcement actions against data brokers for selling precise location data that may be used to reveal sensitive information. On January 9, the FTC settled with Outlogic, LLC (formerly X-Mode Social) over allegations that it failed to obtain meaningful consent from consumers before collecting and selling data that could be used to track visits to sensitive locations like clinics and places of…
On January 7, 2024, China’s Cyberspace Administration (“CAC”) closed the public consultation period for its new cybersecurity incident reporting rules, which were released in December. If the draft rules are adopted as written, companies would be required to report certain cybersecurity incidents to the relevant Chinese regulator within one hour. The relevant regulator depends on the nature of the IT system compromised, the industry, and other factors and may be the local CAC, the public…
New Jersey is the 13th US State to Pass Comprehensive Consumer Privacy Legislation Consistent with our prediction that 2024 will bring a significant crop of new state consumer privacy laws, the New Jersey legislature recently became the 13th state to pass a comprehensive privacy statute. On January 8—the final day of its 2022-2023 legislative session—the Senate passed bill S332. Once enacted—either with Governor Phil Murphy signing the bill or after 45 days if he takes…
In the classic movie “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy, Scarecrow and Tinman walk through the forest while expressing great concern about the “lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” they may face on their journey to Oz. Companies experiencing global ransomware and cyberattacks can experience similar emotions as they grapple with increasingly complex global legal risks. Across the globe, local legislatures and regulatory authorities have established a multitude of different and sometimes conflicting legal obligations…