becerra

Privacy is too complicated for California to understand, mobile industry panel says

28 October 2019 by Steve Blum
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Flashers

California’s consumer data privacy law will be the default privacy standard across the U.S., at least for the coming year, and that’s upsetting the Washington, D.C. crowd. A panel discussion on privacy legislation at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Los Angeles last week featured three industry lobbyists, the head of an industry front organisation and a Federal Trade Commission lawyer. All of them are based in D.C., and shared Beltway-centric advice on who should be calling the shots.… More

Draft rules for businesses add enforcement detail to California’s consumer privacy law

16 October 2019 by Steve Blum
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Gagged by privacy

California’s tough consumer privacy law technically takes effect in January, but enforcement won’t begin until next July. The California attorney general has the job of writing the detailed rules that businesses will have to follow, and then enforcing those rules.

The first draft of those new rules was posted for public review and comment. They apply to businesses with more than $25 million in “annual gross revenues”, or collects or deals in “the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices”, or that deal in people’s personal information for a living.… More

California’s consumer data privacy law survives lobbyist blitz, more or less intact

19 September 2019 by Steve Blum
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Sf naked the streets

Big tech, big telecom and big business made a big push in the legislature to water down California’s landmark data privacy law, AKA the California consumer privacy act. They won some minor victories as the 2019 session ended, but did not succeed in making major changes.

A blog post by Christina Hyun Jin Kroll in the National Law Review has a good run down of the bills that did and didn’t make it out of the legislature and onto governor Gavin Newsom’s desk.… More

CPUC won’t release evidence given to state, federal criminal investigators

23 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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No perp walk for Peevey. Yet.

The California Public Utilities Commission wants to hold onto documents it delivered to state and federal investigators looking into possible illegal backroom dealings between former commission president Michael Peevey, a former Pacific Gas and Electric company lobbyist and, potentially, others. That’s the gist of a draft decision released yesterday that would, if approved by the commission next month, reject a public records disclosure request from a San Diego trial lawyer.… More

New York, California, 19 other states stake out legal grounds for net neutrality appeal

20 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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California’s attorney general (AG), Xavier Becerra, joined a speculative lawsuit launched by his New York counterpart aimed at overturning the Federal Communication Commission’s decision to end broadband’s status as a common carrier service and eliminate network neutrality rules. Becerra’s press release might lead you to believe it was his idea, but it was New York AG Eric Schneiderman who led the effort and then convinced AGs from 20 other states, including California, to sign on.… More

California's new broadband cop talks tough but takes cash from telecoms lobbyists

18 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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The end of network neutrality and other common carrier rules throws broadband companies back under general consumer protection laws. Those are enforced, as Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai put it, by “our nation’s premier consumer protection cop”, the Federal Trade Commission, and by state attorneys general.

In California, that’s Xavier Becerra, appointed by governor Jerry Brown when Kamala Harris moved to the U.S. senate. He has sole responsibility for anti-trust law enforcement and shares consumer protection duties with county prosecutors.… More