It is an understatement to say that a lot has happened in privacy law during the past decade. Here is my list of the most notable developments.
NOTE: I am giving a particular emphasis to what I find to be notable from a United States perspective. What is notable privacy law depends upon where one is situated. For example, if one is from a small country, that country’s developments are quite notable even if not well-known on a worldwide stage.
This cartoon depicts the challenges of multi-jurisdictional privacy law compliance. In 2018, organizations scrambled to comply with the GDPR. In 2019, businesses are scrambling to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). And, there will be a new referendum on privacy law in California next year — CCPA 2.0. There’s a flurry of legislative activity in the states on privacy — IAPP has a great chart tracking what is going on. And, each year, more and more countries are passing new comprehensive privacy laws.
We are witnessing the growing pains of privacy law. Privacy wasn’t adequately regulated for too long, and now the concerns are festering, sparking a rush to action. In the US, state legislation on privacy will continue until the concerns are allayed. A thoughtful and powerful federal law could weaken the enthusiasm for states to jump into the fray, but this is a challenge with Congress as polarized as it is.
For more on the issue, I recently interviewed K Royal on this topic – see here for the interview.