Alston & Bird has expanded its privacy and cybersecurity litigation practice in Washington, D.C. with partner, Kathleen Benway. Benway, a former U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chief of staff, brings exceptional experience at the FTC, FCC, and in the Senate with consumer protection law and policy, especially in privacy and data security. She arrives from Wilkinson […]
Privacy Litigation
Potential Changes to the CCPA; California Senate Considers Amendments
On April 30, we detailed several proposed amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) that were advancing in the State Assembly (see our previous blog post here). Since then, a number of the proposed amendments passed the Assembly and moved to the California Senate, where they remain under consideration. This past week the […]
Georgia Supreme Court Clarifies There Is No Duty to Safeguard Personal Information from a Data Breach
The Georgia Supreme Court recently issued a decision holding that there is no duty to safeguard personal information from a data breach under Georgia law. Georgia Department of Labor v. McConnell involved the accidental disclosure of a spreadsheet that contained the name, social security number, home telephone number, email address, and age of thousands of […]
Proposed Amendment to California Consumer Privacy Act Would Expand Private Right of Action
On February 25, California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson introduced new legislation to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The CCPA as currently enacted establishes a private right of action for consumers impacted by cyber security breaches. The amendment, known as SB-561, would expand the private right of action to cover any violation of […]
Illinois Supreme Court Empowers Claims Under Biometric Information Privacy Act
In an opinion issued Friday, the Illinois Supreme Court handed a potentially significant victory to plaintiffs advancing claims under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act and seeking statutory damages under that law. The Court held that plaintiffs do not need to assert injury or harm outside of a relevant violation of the statute itself in order […]