The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) has long been described as the floor for health care privacy laws and that states and regulators are free to enact more restrictive health care privacy laws. Last week, Washington state became the first state in the nation to codify into law broad protections for consumer health data that go well beyond HIPAA.
private right of action
Bills Introduced in California Legislature to Expand Scope of Breach Notification Law and Amend the CCPA
California already has some of the strongest data privacy laws in the United States, but within the past week state legislators, with the backing of the California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, have proposed two new bills that would strengthen California’s data privacy laws even more. One bill (SB 561) would amend key sections of the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), which we have previously blogged about when it was first enacted and when it was subsequently amended, and the other bill (AB 1130) would expand the definition of “personal information” under California’s data breach notification law to include biometric information and government-issued ID numbers (e.g., passport numbers).
Netflix Sued for “Largest Voluntary Privacy Breach To Date”
By Natalie Newman on
On December 17, 2009, a class action suit was filed against online movie rental giant, Netflix, Inc., in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Plaintiffs in Doe v. Netflix are claiming that Netflix has “perpetrated the largest voluntary privacy breach to date.”
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CAN of Worms?: New Decision Opens CAN-SPAM Private Right of Action to Non-ISPs
By Proskauer Rose on
A recent decision in the Western District of Washington broadly defines the reach of the private right of action under the federal CAN-SPAM statute. In that case, Haselton v. Quicken Loans Inc., W.D. Wash., C-07-1777, 10/14/08, the court held that a company had standing to sue alleged spammers even though it is not an Internet service provider (ISP) and does not provide e-mail accounts to its customers.
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