As CPW has previously covered, Utah is one of several states considering enacting a comprehensive privacy bill this year.  CPW’s Kristin Bryan and Kyle Fath were recently interviewed by Bloomberg Law concerning this development.  The full article is available here.

Kyle commented that “[d]espite the bill’s similarity to the Virginia law and its number of exemptions, it still complicates the national compliance picture.  Businesses may apply more stringent standards from jurisdictions like California to consumers in other states, such as Utah, because it can be complicated and costly to comply in a piecemeal manner.”

As Kristin explained, the failure of the federal government to enact comprehensive privacy legislation means that “many states are taking privacy regulations into their own hands,” and “[t]he inclusion of a private right of action for bills is a ‘worst case scenario’ for businesses that would be regulated under such laws.”  In this instance, she commented, “[i]t does appear [the Utah legislature is] trying to strike the right balance between providing privacy protections while also limiting the exposure to businesses, as seen by lack of private right of action.”

For more on this, stay tuned.  CPW will be there to keep you in the loop.