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Nineteen states have followed the lead of California and passed consumer privacy laws.  Three went into effect this year and eight will become effective in 2025.  The remainder become effective in 2026.  Charts at the end of this post track effective dates (see Table 1) and applicability thresholds (see Table 2).  While there are many similar aspects to these laws, they also diverge from each other in material ways, creating a compliance challenge for organizations. In addition, there are other privacy laws pertaining specifically to consumer health data,[1] laws specific to children’s and minors’ personal data and not part of a comprehensive consumer privacy law,[2] AI-specific laws,[3] or laws, including part of overall consumer privacy laws, regulating data brokers[4] that enterprises need to consider. 

A recent article published by the authors in Competition Policy International’s TechReg Chronical details the similarities and differences between the 20 state consumer privacy laws and a chart at the end of this post provides a quick reference comparison of these laws (see Table 3).

Continue Reading Are You Ready for The Latest U.S. State Consumer Privacy Laws?

2024 was an active year for regulation of customer contracts with “negative option” features. Generally, a “negative option” provision in an offer to sell products or provide services means that a customer’s silence or failure to take action to reject the terms of the offer is deemed by the seller as the customer’s acceptance of the offer terms.

Earlier in 2024, three states updated laws related to negative option provisions in customer contracts (together, the 2024 State Autorenewal Laws)

  1. Utah enacted its Automatic Renewal Contracts Act on March 13, 2024, with an in-force date of January 1, 2025. (Utah ARCA)
  2. Virginia amended its consumer protection law related to automatic renewal and continuous service offers (which was effective on July 1, 2024) (Virginia AR Law).
  3. California amended its Automatic Purchase Renewals law on September 24, 2024 with the amendments in force on July 1, 2025 (California AR Law).

Then, on October 16, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued the final version of its “Rule Concerning Recurring Subscriptions and Other Negative Option Programs” (FTC Final Rule). (We previously covered the FTC’s notice of proposed rulemaking for negative options on Privacy World here.)  The Federal Register publication date for the FTC Final Rule is November 15, 2024. Whether the FTC Final Rule will survive the change in Administration is an open question, as discussed below.

Both the 2024 State Autorenewal Laws and FTC Final Rule include new or expanded obligations. When effective, the FTC Final Rule will preempt the 2024 State Autorenewal Laws (and the other similar state laws) to the extent they are “inconsistent” with its requirements. State laws that afford greater protection than the FTC Final Rule are not inconsistent with the FTC Final Rule. In other words, the FTC Final Rule sets a national “floor,” and states may add more consumer-protective obligations, as reflected in certain aspects of the 2024 State Autorenewal Laws described below.

Continue Reading Cancel Culture: New Requirements for Automatic Renewal and Other Negative Option Offers

Regulators in states without omnibus state privacy laws, like New York, are staking their claim over privacy regulation and enforcement. After months of investigating the deployment of tracking technologies and privacy controls on various websites, the New York State Attorney General (“NY AG”) published its guidance, Website Privacy Controls: A Guide for Business. The NY AG also published a companion guidance for consumers, A Consumer Guide to Web Tracking, which provides a high-level overview of how websites track consumers and what steps consumers can take to protect their privacy. Stay tuned for potential enforcement actions and big-figure settlements. Will New York follow Texas in this regard?

NY AG Investigation and Findings

Tracking technologies, like cookies and tags (i.e., pixels), are utilized by businesses to collect and assess information regarding how individuals interact with the business’ website or mobile app. While tracking technologies can provide valuable insights for businesses, they also raise privacy concerns regarding data collection, selling, sharing, creation of detailed profiles about individuals that are used for targeted advertising, cross-site tracking that leads to a comprehensive understanding of an individual’s interests and behavior without the individual’s knowledge or consent, and more.  The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) is attempting Section 5 Magnuson-Moss rulemaking on this, which they call surveillance capitalism.

Continue Reading Businesses Beware: New York Eyeing Privacy Regulation and Enforcement Even Absent Omnibus State Privacy Law

As we reported in our post about the Minnesota Customer Data Privacy Act, the Rhode Island Data Transparency and Privacy Protection Act (RI-DTPPA) was passed by the state legislature on June 13th.  Governor McKee did not either sign or veto but transmitted it to the Rhode Island Secretary of State. i.e., it is effective without the Governor’s signature. 

1. WHEN IS RI-DTPPA IN FORCE?

The RI-DTPPA effective date is January 1, 2026 – the same date as the customer privacy laws in Indiana and Kentucky. 

Since Vermont’s consumer privacy law was vetoed, the RI-DTPPA makes 20 state consumer privacy laws.  The 19 state customer privacy laws preceding RI-DTPPA (collectively, the State Customer Privacy Laws) are in force as follows.

StateState Customer Privacy Law TitleEffective Date
CaliforniaCalifornia Customer Privacy Act (CCPA)January 1, 2020; CCPA Regulations effective January 1, 2023
ColoradoColorado Privacy ActJuly 1, 2023
ConnecticutConnecticut Personal Data Privacy and Online Monitoring ActJuly 1, 2023
DelawareDelaware Personal Data Privacy ActJanuary 1, 2025
FloridaFlorida Digital Bill of RightsJuly 1, 2024
IndianaIndiana Customer Data Protection ActJanuary 1, 2026
IowaIowa’s Act Relating to Customer Data ProtectionJanuary 1, 2025
KentuckyKentucky Customer Data PrivacyJanuary 1, 2026
MarylandMaryland Online Data Privacy ActOctober 1, 2025
MinnesotaMinnesota Customer Data Privacy ActJuly 31, 2025
MontanaMontana Customer Data Privacy ActOctober 1, 2024
NebraskaNebraska’s Data Privacy ActJanuary 1, 2025
New HampshireAct Relative to the Expectation of PrivacyJanuary 1, 2025
New JerseyNew Jersey Data Protection ActJanuary 15, 2025
OregonOregon Customer Privacy ActJuly 1, 2024 (July 1, 2025, for in-scope non-profit organizations)
TennesseeTennessee Information Protection ActJuly 1, 2025
TexasTexas Data Privacy and Security ActJuly 1, 2024
UtahUtah Customer Privacy ActDecember 31, 2023
VirginiaVirginia Customer Data Protection ActJanuary 1, 2023
Continue Reading Rhode Island Makes it an Even 20

In a final push before adjourning for the summer, state legislators across the country contemplated consumer privacy laws.  Three legislatures made it to the finish line.  One – Minnesota’s state legislature passed the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act on May 19th as part of an appropriations bill, which was signed by Minnesota’s governor on May 24th.  Of the other two, one is pending gubernatorial action, and the other was vetoed.

The Rhode Island Data Transparency and Privacy Protection Act (RI-DTPA) was passed by the state legislature on June 13th.  Before RI-DTPA becomes law, Governor McKee must either sign, take no action or veto it.  If signed, RI-DTPA is in force on January 1, 2026, like the Indiana Consumer Data Protection Act and Kentucky Consumer Data Privacy.

We are not, however, making assumptions about RI-DTPA’s passage.  This post was originally planned to cover the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act and the Vermont Data Privacy Act, not the RI-DTPA.  On June 13th (the same day that RI-DTPA was passed), Vermont’s Governor Phil Scott vetoed the Vermont Data Privacy Act.  In his letter to Vermont’s General Assembly, Governor Scott noted that the Vermont Data Privacy Act created “big and expensive new burdens and competitive disadvantages for the small and mid-sized businesses Vermont communities rely on.”  He also noted that the private right of action is “a national outlier, and more hostile” than any other state privacy law, notwithstanding its limited scope and sunset.  He raised the possibility of a First Amendment challenge to the Age-Appropriate Design Code (Section 6), noting that “similar legislation in California has already been [preliminarily enjoined] for likely First Amendment violations.” (See here.)  A veto override was not successful.

The RI-DTPA already faces opposition from privacy advocacy organizations claiming that RI-DTPA is too weak (see, e.g., here).  Advertising associations also reportedly oppose RI-DTPA.  Nonetheless, we have highlighted some key elements of RI-DTPA in this post so you can decide for yourself, together with answers to FAQs about the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act (MN-CDPA) and how it is similar to and different from the other state consumer privacy laws.

Continue Reading Minnesota Makes 19: Will Rhode Island’s Privacy Law Replace Vermont’s Vetoed Privacy Law as #20?

Since its inception in 1998, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) has been the cornerstone of protecting the personal data of minors under the age of 13 in the United States. COPPA imposes various requirements, including parental consent, notice and transparency, and data minimization, among other things, on online services that are “directed to children [under 13]” and “mixed audience” online services, or those that have actual knowledge that they have collected personal data from a child [under 13] online.

Many organizations that previously did not have to worry about COPPA or COPPA-based standards as applied to state consumer privacy laws should be aware of the trend in state privacy legislation to expand restrictions and obligations beyond COPPA’s under age 13 standard, to minors that are at least 13 and under the age of 18 (“Teens”). This trend began in 2020 with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) requiring consent for “sale” of personal information of consumers at least age 13 but younger than 16 years of age  (the California Privacy Rights Act expanded that requirement to “sharing” as well). Consent must be given by the Teen or, if the consumer is under age 13, by the parent, using COPPA verification standards. Other relevant aspects regarding this trend, of which organizations should be aware, include:

Continue Reading Trending: Teens’ Data Subject to Heightened Restrictions Under Ten (and Counting?) State Privacy Laws

State legislatures across the country were busy in 2023 and so far this year passing comprehensive consumer privacy laws and creating a vexing patchwork of compliance obligations.

Legislatures in Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, Montana, Florida, Texas, Oregon, Delaware, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska and Minnesota all enacted consumer privacy laws of their own with an additional consumer privacy law in Vermont awaiting action by the Governor. The fifteen laws passed in 2023 and 2024 join laws in California, Virginia, Colorado, Utah, and Connecticut which already are in effect. A chart at the end of this blog post notes each law’s effective date, three of which are effective at the end of this month.

While inspired by the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), the new state consumer privacy laws take materially different approaches in many ways. States also have passed more targeted privacy laws pertaining specifically to consumer health data (beyond treating it as a category of sensitive personal data), the protection of children (beyond limiting the use of personal data), AI-specific laws (not part of a comprehensive consumer data regime) and laws regulating data brokers (typically controllers that sell personal data they do not directly collect from consumers). Congress continues to consider a federal law that would mostly preempt the state consumer privacy laws, as well as other laws specific to children’s online safety with partial preemption. In the meantime, data controllers (and to a lesser degree processors) face the challenge of determining which state consumer privacy laws apply and whether to apply applicable laws based on consumer residency or to apply a national highest standard to all consumers.

The SPB privacy team has developed a comprehensive guide on state consumer privacy laws, including comparison charts on key issues to help determine which laws apply and tips for enhancing information governance. Most of the new state consumer privacy laws require controllers to conduct and retain documentation of data privacy impact or risk assessments. Minnesota’s new consumer privacy law also requires a documented privacy compliance program reasonably designed to ensure compliance and data inventories. The most recent draft of the federal privacy law mandates privacy-by-design.

Following are some highlights of the emerging ‘high water mark’ (strictest requirement) for key aspects of consumer privacy in the United States:

Continue Reading State Privacy Law Patchwork Presents Challenges

Privacy pros know that tracking all the US consumer privacy laws is a challenge. The Privacy World team is here to help. In this post, we’ve collated information and resources regarding the consumer privacy laws in Texas, Oregon and Florida – all three of which are effective as of July 1, 2024. While the Florida privacy law’s status as an “omnibus” consumer privacy law is debatable given its narrow applicability and numerous carveouts, we’ve included it in this post for completeness. We’ve also provided a list of effective dates for the other state consumer privacy laws enacted but not yet in effect and some compliance approaches for your consideration.

Continue Reading Are You Ready for July 1? Florida, Oregon, and Texas on Deck

Protection for minors online continues to top the list of U.S. regulatory and legislative priorities in 2024. So far in 2024, legislators in California introduced several bills focused on minors; Congress held hearings and advanced federal legislation protecting minors online; and constitutional challenges to 2023 state laws focused on minors’ social networking accounts advanced in the Courts. Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are looking to update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and corresponding Rule, as detailed in another post. However, the proposals explained in this post extend far beyond online privacy concerns, and we believe more focus on minors’ online safety is on the way.

Continue Reading Protecting Kids Online: Changes in California, Connecticut and Congress – Part I

2023 was an eventful year for privacy legislation, regulation and regulatory enforcement. The compliance landscape continues to develop and evolve rapidly, making it difficult for covered businesses to keep up with the myriad requirements. In this post, we discuss some of the year’s most interesting privacy compliance developments globally.

Continue Reading 2023 Privacy Compliance Year in Review