Recent changes in Ohio law make it illegal for chiropractors and certain health practitioners to contact individuals immediately after an automobile accident or crime. The law marks a substantial change for many health practitioners who derive a large amount of business from direct solicitation of individuals. The law mandates that practitioners must wait at least 30 days to contact an [...]
Last month, the California legislature passed several bills to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and adopt a sister law regulating data brokers. The governor has until October 13th to sign those bills into law. Today, the California Attorney General released the first draft of its CCPA regulations. The AG is holding four public hearings between December 2nd and [...]
During the final days of the 2019 legislative calendar, California lawmakers passed several bills to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). If signed into law by the governor, the bills make the following substantive changes and clarifications: Employee information. Provides a partial CCPA exemption for information a business collects from job applicants, employees, and independent contractors — and their [...]
As membership and programming have continued to expand beyond its original geographic boundaries, the Conference of Western Attorneys General (“CWAG”) has announced the formation of the Attorney General Alliance (“AGA”). With 43 states and territories participating, AGA is an alliance of Attorneys General, federal, state and foreign officials, and public and private sector partners throughout the world. AGA works closely [...]
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich recently announced that $2.5 million of funds from “sham” cancer charities will be given to authentic cancer centers across the United States. The funds are a result of a settlement reached in a multistate enforcement action against multiple fake cancer organizations, including Cancer Fund of America, The Breast Cancer Society, Cancer Support Services, and Children’s [...]
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to answer the question of whether federal courts have the power to scrutinize FCC orders. In the decision being challenged, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the trial court must follow a 2006 FCC order finding that a fax offering free services is an “unsolicited advertisement” under the TCPA. The justices [...]
On June 12, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled with LightYear Dealer Technologies, LLC (LightYear) over a major data breach that occurred in October of 2016 and the subsequent allegations that LightYear’s data security was woefully insufficient. LightYear, an auto dealer software provider operating under the name DealerBuilt, provides dealer-management system software and data processing and/or storage services to [...]
In recent weeks, Nevada and Maine passed new data privacy legislation. Although these statutes are much narrower than the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), they demonstrate a continuing trend towards U.S. privacy regulation at the state level and impose additional compliance obligations on businesses. Nevada’s current online privacy law requires operators of websites and/or online services to publish a privacy [...]
The Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) message is clear: companies can’t restrict consumers from publishing negative reviews as a condition of purchase. Provisions or clauses containing this sort of restriction are known as non-disparagement provisions, or “gag clauses.” The FTC’s Consumer Review Fairness Act (“CRFA”), which became effective in March 2017, prohibits such practices. While the FTC has brought cases in the past [...]
Earlier this month, several California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) amendment bills took the first step towards becoming law by receiving passing votes from their designated committees. On May 16th, the Senate Appropriations Committee placed one of the more significant bills—the Attorney General backed SB 561—in its suspense file. If passed, SB 561 would have: (1) expanded the CCPA’s private right [...]
