Consumer Protection

In October of 2021, then Acting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a proposal among her Commissioner colleagues to address the problem of illegal robotexts invading consumer privacy. At the time, she noted that the FCC has seen “a rise in scammers trying to take advantage of our trust of text messages by sending bogus robotexts that try to trick consumers to share sensitive information or click on malicious links. It’s time we take steps to confront this latest wave of fraud and identify how mobile carriers can block these automated messages before they have the opportunity to cause any harm.” 
Continue Reading FCC Adopts Rulemaking Proposal to Protect Consumer Privacy From Invasion by Unwanted Text Messages

With rising concerns from consumers about data protection, companies across the nation are doing their utmost to avoid data incidents. As such, the seriousness of allegations that a data breach has occurred, true or not, can potentially lead to lasting damage to an organization’s credibility, leaving many companies to wonder what actions can be taken…

In case you missed it, below are recent posts from Consumer Privacy World covering the latest developments on data privacy, security and innovation. Please reach out to the authors if you are interested in additional information.

2023 State Privacy Laws: How to Assess and Ensure Readiness by Year-end

New topic for EDPB’s coordinated enforcement action:…

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released a staff report, Bringing Dark Patterns to Light, which discusses misleading and manipulative design practices—dark patterns—in web and mobile apps. These design choices take advantage of users’ cognitive biases to influence their behavior and prevent them from making fully informed decisions about their data and purchases. Dark patterns are employed to get users to surrender their personal information, unwittingly sign up for services, and purchase products they do not intend to purchase. The consequences of dark patterns have been increasingly noticed in the regulatory and legislative sphere, both in the United States and Europe. 
Continue Reading Dark Patterns under the Regulatory Spotlight Again

In case you missed it, below are recent posts from Consumer Privacy World covering the latest developments on data privacy, security and innovation. Please reach out to the authors if you are interested in additional information.

CPW’s Shea Leitch and Kyle Dull to Speak at ACC South Florida’s 12th Annual CLE Conference

CPW’s David Oberly…

The second reading of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (the Bill) has been delayed following the election of the new Conservative Party leader. The new date is yet to be announced, but in the meantime, it is worth analysing some of the key changes the Bill proposes. While it promises more flexibility and less ambiguity, practically speaking, the Bill may not represent a fundamental divergence from the current regime.
Continue Reading Data Protection and Digital Information Bill Delayed – Aspects to Consider While We Wait

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) currently has limited carve-outs for personal information (PI) collected from a job applicant, employee, owner, director, officer, medical staff member, or independent contractor of a business acting in such capacity (including, without limitation, communications, emergency contact and benefits PI) (HR data). An even broader exception applies to B-to-B communications and related PI (e.g., vendor, supplier and business customer contacts and communications) (B-to-B data). As a result, businesses subject to the CCPA are not currently required to honor CCPA rights requests received from persons concerning HR data and B-to-B data. These carve-outs are set to sunset on January 1, 2023, when the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which substantially amends the CCPA, goes into full effect, at which point HR data and B-to-B data will be fully subject to all of the requirements of the CCPA/CPRA. Many business administrators had hoped that either the California legislature would extend the HR data exceptions (or maybe even make them permanent), or a federal law that limited data subject rights to traditional consumers would pass and preempt CCPA/CPRA. It is now clear that the former is impossible and the latter is highly unlikely. Accordingly, many companies have a lot to do by year-end to prepare to stand up a CCPA/CPRA program for HR data and B-to-B data.
Continue Reading HR and B-to-B Data Compliance Deadline Looming – Legislative Efforts to Extend California Consumer Privacy Act Exemptions Fail

In case you missed it, below are recent posts from Consumer Privacy World covering the latest developments on data privacy, security and innovation. Please reach out to the authors if you are interested in additional information.

Speaker Pelosi Expresses Concerns With Federal Privacy Bill’s Preemption Provision | Consumer Privacy World

The Cookie Crumbles – Lessons…

In recent years text messaging has emerged as one of the most used methods of communications among American consumers, and those entities who seek to reach out to contact them. According to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC), in 2020, 2.2 trillion Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages were exchanged in America alone. These figures do not include messages using applications such as WhatsApp and We Chat.

This dynamic growth has also raised concern about those who would use the technology to scam and trick consumers. Last October, then Acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, out of a concern about such potential abuses, circulated to her fellow Commissioners “a proposed rulemaking that would require mobile wireless providers to block illegal text messaging, building on the agency’s ongoing work to stop illegal and unwanted robocalls”. That proposal remains pending at the FCC.Continue Reading FCC Consumer Advisory Committee Reports on State of Text Messaging and Makes Recommendations

Join CPW’s Kyle Fath as they discuss Privacy in AI with thought leader Christina Montgomery, IBM’s Chief Privacy Officer and AI Ethics Board chair, on September 8 from 12-1 pm PDT. Among other things, you will hear about:

  • The landscape of laws, regulations, and frameworks governing AI and automated decision-making
  • Where the California Privacy Protection

…