Data privacy/protection professionals are already busy and getting busier!
Data Privacy Day is January 28. It’s a day when the U.S., Canada, Europe and other countries promote protection of privacy and data and share best practices. What better time, to go over some recent legal developments. 2024 is already on track to be one of the busiest for data privacy/protection compliance professionals in the U.S. and abroad.
AI is a big part of the reason
Clearly, the lightning speed evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and exploding AI use are fueling the frenzy. And enforcement has already begun. See FTC Rite Aid Banned from Using AI Facial Recognition After FTC Says Retailer Deployed Technology without Reasonable Safeguards | Federal Trade Commission and 1/9/24 FTC Technology Blog AI Companies: Uphold Your Privacy and Confidentiality Commitments | Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov)
Final text of European Union AI Act leaked
In Europe, the AI Act is on the fast track to being finalized this year with the latest text leaked earlier this week. Euractiv Technology Editor Luca Bertuzzi posted on LinkedIn that given “the massive public attention to the (AI Act), I’ve taken the rather unprecedented decision to publish the final text.” The four-column 892-page document includes the original European Commission proposal next to the European Parliament and Council’s mandates. The fourth column is the draft consolidated agreement with redlines.
New state privacy laws are everywhere
While AI is ALL over the news, it’s not the only thing keeping data privacy/protection compliance professionals awake at night. In the U.S. alone, there are a baker’s dozen of new state privacy laws in effect in 2024 or coming soon. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia provide (now or in the future) their state residents with rights to:
- Know whether personal information about them is being processed.
- Access and delete certain personal information.
- Correct inaccuracies in personal information about them, taking into account the nature of the information and the purpose of processing (excluding Iowa and Utah).
- Data portability.
- Opt-out of the processing of personal information for:
- targeted advertising (excluding Iowa);
- sales; or
- profiling for decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects (excluding Iowa and Utah).
- Either limit (opt-out of) or require consent to process sensitive personal data.
Get help wading through the chaos
The exact scope of these rights may vary by state. What that means for your entity in terms of complying can be a complicated question to answer. As you can see, there is an onslaught of new data privacy/protection laws taking effect, not just in the United States but also in Europe in 2024.
Practus can help you reduce your regulatory and compliance risks
Practus’ Emerging Technology law partners stand ready to help clients succeed with their EU-U.S. data privacy/protection risk mitigation, regulatory compliance, commercial transactions, government relations, and related legal needs. These include fund formation, private equity, digital asset exchanges, cybersecurity, corporate formation, securities compliance, intellectual property, tax matters, human resources and labor law, and class action defense.
My Practus partner Leslie Katz explains how our Emerging Technologies team helps clients succeed in a recent blog, Emerging technologies and attorneys work together to help clients succeed | Practus, LLP . We look forward to assisting you.
