California Privacy Act Fails to Pass

Last week, the “California Privacy Act,” modeled after the FCC’s Broadband Privacy Order, failed to make it to the floor before California’s 2017 legislative session ended. This is not the first time a state tried to pass problematic privacy legislation. The Maryland State Senate proposed a similar bill in April 2017 and it also failed to pass. As I stated in an April 2017 blog, state-level broadband privacy laws raise many practical questions about enforcement efforts. Ultimately, privacy jurisdiction should return to the FTC, where privacy matters can be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis.