2024 marked another significant year for privacy law, with new state legislation and high-stakes litigation reshaping the landscape. Legal battles over tracking technologies, biometric data, and children’s privacy intensified, while federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“HHS OCR”), ramped up their efforts through major enforcement actions and high-profile settlements, marking a new era of increased accountability.
Privacy Law
My Health, My Dollar: Amazon’s Health Data Troubles in Washington
By Aaron Francis & Anna W. Chan on
Now Trending: The TikTok Dox
By Jeff Warshafsky, Aaron Francis & Logan White Levy on
Key Takeaways:
HHS-OCR Withdraws Appeal Following Unlawful Declaration of Online Tracking Technologies Bulletin
On August 29, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS-OCR”) withdrew its appeal of an order by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas’ (“District Court”) declaring unlawful and vacating a portion of an HHS-OCR Bulletin…
Same Song, Different Tune: Plaintiffs’ Bar Adds the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act to its Privacy Repertoire
By Jeff Warshafsky, Aaron Francis & Logan White Levy on
Repurposing old laws to challenge new technologies has become the new normal in the privacy space. Plaintiffs continue to bring a kaleidoscope of privacy claims against companies in the tech age, reviving laws like the California Invasion of Privacy Act of 1994 (“CIPA”), Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act, and Arizona Telephone, Utility, and Communication Service Records Act.
Privacy Class Action Spotlight: Surge of Privacy Class Actions in Arizona Targeting Email Pixel Tracking
- There has been a recent surge of privacy class action lawsuits under the Arizona Telephone, Utility, and Communication Service Records Act targeting the use of common email marketing analytics technologies.
- Defendants are asserting standard defenses including lack of Article III standing as well as challenging the 2007 Arizona law’s applicability to email tracking pixels.
SEC Adopts Rule Amendments to Regulation S-P to Enhance Protection of Customer Information
By Leslie Shanklin & Robert Sutton on
On May 16, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the adoption of amendments to Regulation S-P that were proposed last year. The Final Amendments impose enhanced requirements on registered investment advisers, investment companies, broker dealers and transfer agents with respect to handling of consumer financial information.
Court Rejects Claims that Website’s Live Chat Feature Violates California’s Prohibitions on Wiretapping and Eavesdropping
By Amy Gordon, Leslie Shanklin & Jeff Warshafsky on
- Central District of California dismisses lawsuit alleging that a third-party’s interception of communications over a website’s live chat feature violated California’s wiretapping and eavesdropping prohibitions.
- Important to the Court’s holding was its finding that the code used by the third party to acquire and transmit the contents of the chat communications was not necessarily used to intercept the communications while they were “in transit” but rather to store them after they were received.