Now that we’ve reached 2023, it’s time to reexamine privacy policies to comply with California’s new California Privacy Rights Act. To recap, in 2018, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).  The CCPA became effective in 2020.  Many of our clients changed their privacy policies and programs to comply with the CCPA, which established new disclosure and process requirements.  In the November 2020 election, however, California’s voters enacted a new privacy law by ballot initiative – the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA).  As of January 1, 2023, the C ..read more

Is your company considering a transaction to become acquired or to take in additional financing?  If so, the time is now to upgrade your privacy and information security practices before you are in serious discussions or receive a term sheet for the transaction.  One obvious question is:  why now?  Aren’t data protection issues something for the lawyers to handle later in negotiating the agreement and during due diligence?  In answer to the question why now, I have 350 million reasons why now is the best time to tackle data protection challenges. The 350 million refers ..read more

San Jose, Calif. — December 15, 2020 — Silicon Valley Law Group, a boutique business law firm, today announced that Laurie Berger, a veteran environmental attorney, has joined the firm’s Environmental Group as Special Counsel. Ms. Berger’s addition to Silicon Valley Law Group enhances its ability to provide services to its clients on a wide variety of environmental counseling, compliance, administrative and litigation matters. “We are excited to have Laurie join our growing Environmental Group. Given her impeccable qualifications and depth and breadth of experience, Silicon Valley Law Group no ..read more

In a judgment issued last week, the European Court of Justice invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Program by which businesses in the United States could self-certify their compliance with a framework of principles for data protection. This judgment is the top privacy story for multinational companies this year. What does this mean for artificial intelligence companies? For AI companies using personal data to train machine learning systems, the answer is that it just got harder to import personal data from the European Union (EU) and broader European Economic Area (EEA ..read more

Growing up, I used to think New York City was the capital of the world. I started life in Columbus, Ohio, and spent most of my early years in a Cleveland, Ohio suburb called Chagrin Falls. Of course, I knew that Washington, D.C. was the political capital of the nation and that the world itself didn’t have an official capital. Nonetheless, Cleveland revolved in New York’s orbit. While Chicago was closer, my Ohio peers and I at least subconsciously thought of New York as the place to go to seek your fortune. When young people in my area of Ohio wanted to make it to the big time, they would plan ..read more

Organizations using machine learning systems require data to train their systems. But where does that data come from? And can they get into trouble if they don’t have the rights to use that data? The short answer is yes; they can get into trouble if they aren’t careful. A few recent cases show the risks associated with companies using personal information for training AI systems allegedly without authorization. First, Burke v. Clearview AI, Inc., a class action filed in federal district court in San Diego at the end of February 2020, involves a company, Clearview, accused of “scraping” thousa ..read more

Frequently Asked California corporation questions (FAQ)   Disclaimer Warning:  This FAQ is published as a general informational resource and is not intended to constitute legal advice regarding any particular matter or any specific facts.  Transmission of this FAQ does not constitute legal advice for the reader and does not create an attorney-client relationship.  Should a corporation be formed in California, Delaware, Nevada or another state? The optimal state of incorporation for a business requires an analysis of, among other things, the business plan of the c ..read more

You may have heard that California has a new privacy law. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) came into effect on January 1, 2020. It covers large(r) businesses in California. Covered businesses have to give “consumers” four key rights: The right to know their privacy practices regarding how they collect, use, share, and sell consumers’ personal information. The right to demand that businesses delete personal information.  There are some exceptions in the law ..read more