Seyfarth Synopsis: Earlier this year, we reported that the Illinois Senate passed Senate Bill 2979 with a vote of 46 to 13, and the Illinois House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 2979 with a vote 81 to 30. This bill addressed concerns arising from recent legal interpretations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA,” 740 ILCS 14/ et seq.), particularly following the Illinois Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Cothron v. White Castle System Inc., in which the Court held that a claim under BIPA accrues each time that an individual’s biometric information or identifier is captured or collected.Continue Reading BIPA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Governor Pritzker Signs Amendment Limiting Damages To A Single Recovery
HHS Strengthens HIPAA Rules to Protect Reproductive Health Privacy
Seyfarth Synopsis: This past Monday, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its final rule aimed at strengthening the HIPAA Privacy rules as they are applied to reproductive health data.
On the heels of the release of the 2022 US Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Biden Administration directed the Federal agencies to examine what they could do to protect women’s health and privacy. Shortly thereafter, HHS released guidance under HIPAA related to reproductive health care services under a health plan, focusing on information required to be disclosed by law, for law enforcement purposes, and to avert a serious threat to health or safety (see our earlier Alert here). Then, in April 2023, HHS issued proposed modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule aimed at these concerns. A year later, the agency finalized those rules on April 22, 2024 – the Final Rule.Continue Reading HHS Strengthens HIPAA Rules to Protect Reproductive Health Privacy
Privacy In Focus: BIPA’s Current Landscape and the Crucial Role of Statutory Exemptions
This blog is cross-posted on the Consumer Class Actions blog site as well.
Throughout much of 2023, businesses found themselves in a challenging position as they continued to grapple with defending against Illinois Biometric Information Privacy (BIPA) class action lawsuits. The year began on a somber note with the Illinois Supreme Court delivering unfavorable decisions on two pivotal threshold matters. However, rays of hope emerged when the same court issued two favorable decisions, one affirming union preemption, and another concerning medical exemptions under BIPA. These welcomed developments provided a reprieve for businesses contending with the longstanding challenges posed by the statute. As we navigate the complexities of BIPA, it becomes crucial for businesses to recognize and consider the various exemptions embedded within the legislation—many of which have proven effective in legal defenses over the past few years.Continue Reading Privacy In Focus: BIPA’s Current Landscape and the Crucial Role of Statutory Exemptions
How to Comply with and Unpack the Wide Reach of Washington’s My Health My Data Act (Webinar Recording)
On October 5, 2023, Seyfarth offered a Masterclass, hosted by Lexology, which was designed to familiarize in-house counsel and privacy professionals, in and out of Washington state, with the My Health My Data Act legislation. Portions of the Act are already in effect and go into further effect on March 31, 2024.
We explored its
Upcoming Webinar! How to Comply with and Unpack the Wide Reach of Washington’s My Health My Data Act
Thursday, October 5, 2023
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. CT
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. MT
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. PT
About the Program
Seyfarth is pleased to offer this Masterclass, hosted by Lexology, which is designed to familiarize in-house counsel and privacy professionals, in and
SEC Publishes Public Company Cybersecurity Disclosure Final Rule
This blog post is co-authored by Seyfarth Shaw and The Chertoff Group and has been cross-posted with permission.
What Happened
On July 26, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted its Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure final rule on a 3-2 vote. The final rule is a modified version of the SEC’s earlier Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) released in March 2022. The final rule formalizes and expands on existing interpretive guidance requiring disclosure of “material” cybersecurity incidents.Continue Reading SEC Publishes Public Company Cybersecurity Disclosure Final Rule
Adequacy for the US (kind of) – But What Are the Side Effects?
On July 10th, the European Commission issued its Implementing Decision regarding the adequacy of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (“DPF”). The Decision has been eagerly awaited by US and Europe based commerce, hoping it will help business streamline cross-Atlantic data transfers, and by activists who have vowed to scrutinize the next framework arrangement (thereby maintaining their relevance). Regardless of the legal resiliency of the decision, it poses an interesting set of considerations for US businesses, not the least of which is whether or not to participate in the Framework.
For those who followed the development and demise of the Privacy Shield program and the Schrems II case, it has been apparent for some time that the fundamental objection of the activists and the Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”) to the original Privacy Shield was the perception that the US intelligence community had an ability to engage in disproportional data collection without any possibility of recourse by EU residents whose personal information may be swept into an investigation. The actual functioning of the program for the certifying businesses were much less controversial.
Since the structure of the program wasn’t the primary reason for Privacy Shield’s revocation, from a business perspective, the current DPF looks a lot like the old Privacy Shield. For businesses who made the decision to participate in the Privacy Shield program in the past, the operational burden shouldn’t be much different under the new DPF, if they have already taken steps to operationalize the requirements.
What is interesting about the new DPF is how it may impact a company’s decision to choose between the Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”) and the alternative adequacy mechanism for transfers. There is also some interest vis-à-vis the DPF and its interactions with state privacy laws.Continue Reading Adequacy for the US (kind of) – But What Are the Side Effects?
California Courts Give an Independence Day Present – CCPA Regulation Enforcement Delayed
The California Superior Court in Sacramento decided to give businesses in California an early present for the 4th of July. The regulations promulgated by the California Privacy Protection Agency (“CPPA”) back in March will not be enforceable on July 1, 2023. The new enforcement date will be March 29, 2024.
This is a result of the Court finding (account to access required) that it was the intent of the voters to require a 12-month “grace period” for businesses to build out their CCPA compliance programs. As a bit of background, and as we mentioned in our article back in April that you can find here, the California Chamber of Commerce (“the Chamber”) filed suit against the CPPA in March of this year seeking a delay in enforcement. The suit argued that the CCPA regulations passed by the CPPA should only be enforceable only after 12 months from the final promulgation of all the required regulations set out in Proposition 24 and sought injunctive relief to delay CPPA’s enforcement. The Chamber lawsuit was filed the day after the CPPA finalized their regulations across 12 of the 15 areas of the CCPA which rulemaking is required under Proposition 24.Continue Reading California Courts Give an Independence Day Present – CCPA Regulation Enforcement Delayed
Texas Joins the Privacy Party
2023 has brought several states into the privacy limelight. On June 18, Governor Abbott signed the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (“TDPSA”) into law, making the Lone Star state the eleventh in the U.S. to pass a comprehensive data privacy and security law. The Act provides Texas consumers the ability to submit requests to exercise privacy rights, and extends to parents the ability exercise rights on behalf of their minor children.
The Texas Act provides the usual compliment of data subject rights relating to access, corrections, data portability, and to opt out of data being processed for purposes of targeted advertising, the sale of personal information, and profiling where a consumer may be significantly or legally effected. It also requires that covered businesses provide a privacy notice and other disclosures relevant to how they use consumer data.Continue Reading Texas Joins the Privacy Party
Florida’s SB 262 – What Florida Thinks of Privacy (and more)
With the passage of Senate Bill 262, Florida has become the latest state who has woken up to the political capital that a state privacy law can provide. And while we see a lot of the “usual suspects” which populate other state privacy laws (e.g. notice, consumer rights, collection and use restrictions, etc.) – which we have posted on frequently – Florida didn’t just look to privacy with SB 262. It also addressed two other issues which seem to be on the mind of Governor DeSantis – government censorship of online social media platforms, and protection of a minor’s personal information.Continue Reading Florida’s SB 262 – What Florida Thinks of Privacy (and more)