Category Archives: Data Privacy

Consumer Health Data Protections Added to CT’s Data Privacy Act

One year after Connecticut became the fifth state in the nation to adopt a consumer data privacy law, the state Legislature emerges again as a data privacy leader by adding protections for consumer health data and minors to the Connecticut Data Privacy Act (“CTDPA”).  With unanimous votes in the state House and the Senate, An […]

A Proposed Federal Privacy Law that Could End the CTDPA Before it Starts

Protecting personal information is important to all Americans.  In the absence of a comprehensive federal privacy law (the US is one of the few remaining countries without one), states are stepping up.  Five states have adopted comprehensive privacy legislation: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and Utah. And more than half of the country’s state legislatures have […]

And CT Makes Five: The Connecticut Legislature Passes A Consumer Data Privacy Bill

After failed attempts in years past, on April 28, 2022, Connecticut became the fifth state to pass a consumer data privacy bill.  It is headed to the Governor’s desk for signature, and he is expected to sign.  Entitled “An Act Concerning Personal Data Privacy and Online Monitoring,” it enjoyed bipartisan support passing unanimously in the […]

CT AG Announces Online Breach Reporting Form

Today, the Connecticut Attorney General’s office announced that it created an online form for data breach reporting.  According to the CT AG’s office, “[t]he need for a standardized, online submission form was also motivated by recent amendments to Connecticut’s data breach notification statute.”  Those amendments, which took effect on October 1, 2021, include a broadened definition of personal information and a reduced timeframe for notification and reporting from 90 days to 60 days. 

Connecticut Adopts an Act Incentivizing the Adoption of Cybersecurity Standards

Today, Connecticut’s Governor signed An Act Incentivizing the Adoption of Cybersecurity Standards for Businesses, Public Act 21-119 (the Act). The Act prohibits the assessment of punitive damages against an entity sued for negligent data protection practices related to a data breach involving personal information or information that can be used to identify an individual if the entity adopts and implements recognized cybersecurity standards.

Connecticut Makes Significant Changes to its Data Breach Statute

Written in collaboration with Nathaly Tamayo, JD.

Late in the legislative session, both the Connecticut House and Senate passed House Bill 5310 (now Public Act 21-59), An Act Concerning Data Privacy Breaches, which substantially amends Connecticut’s data breach notification statute (CGS §36a-701b). Although the bill implemented a number of revisions, the most notable changes significantly expand the definition of personal information and shorten the notification timeframe.

COVID-19 Technology and Privacy Part II – A Promising Legislative Solution Emerges

In Part I of this mini-series last week, Dayle A. Duran, Esq., CIPP/US articulately described Apple and Google’s COVID-19 contact tracing API. Overall, she concluded that, if used as intended, the technology provides good privacy protections, but flagged that the real privacy risks lie in unintended use and function creep. Recently proposed bipartisan legislation may adequately address these concerns.

COVID-19 TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY Part I – Contact Tracing: The Apple | Google API

This is part one of a two-part series focused on COVID-19 contact tracing technology and its implications for US privacy law. The next installment of this series will examine legislative solutions to protect data subjects from misuse of information collected through contact tracing apps and related technologies.

Rip off the Band-Aid: Time to Scrap the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule

The Federal Trade Commission’s Health Breach Notification Rule (HBNR) is a perfect example of a narrowly tailored regulation that only contributes to the cumbersome patchwork of privacy rules in this country without providing any real benefit. In this blog post, I explore the problems with the HBNR and why we should focus instead on creating meaningful, comprehensive privacy legislation.

Final Rules on Interoperability and Information Blocking Released

Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONC) released their long-awaited final rules on interoperability and information blocking.