Alexandra S. Levine reports: The Covid-19 pandemic has heightened digital surveillance around the world. But in China, where citizens had already been subjected to mass tracking by the government, the crisis helped expand an authoritarian system that has been refined and cemented as the norm. Yet, as the Chinese surveillance state grows, so does public pushback….
Category: Laws
Improving Enforcement in State Consumer Privacy Laws
Hayley Tsukayama writes: Momentum for state privacy bills has been growing over the past couple of years, as lawmakers respond to privacy invasions and constituent demand to address them. As several states end their legislative sessions for the year and lawmakers begin to plan for next year, we urge them to pay special attention to…
Virginia’s New Data Privacy Law: An Uncertain Next Step for State Data Protection
Colin Zick and Christopher Escobedo Hart of Foley Hoag write: On March 2, 2021, Governor Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) into law. This made Virginia the second state to enact a consumer privacy and data security law, and follows hot the heels of California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the newly-enacted California…
Georgia Supreme Court Overturns Computer Crime Conviction For Man Who Copied Himself On Emails Sent To His Boss
Tim Cushing explains: It’s not just the CFAA that can be abused. This law — recently trimmed a bit by the US Supreme Court — has been abused for years to go after web scrapers, researchers, and information-wants-to-be-free activists. The recent ruling does narrow the scope of that law a bit, but the CFAA still has the potential to do serious…