State Regulation
New California Law to Mandate Release of VC Investment Diversity Information
Updated 6.21.24 Governor Newsom has just signed SB 54, which will require venture capital firms in the state of California to annually report the diversity of founders they are backing. According to Tech Crunch’s reporting, SB 54 will result in amendments to the Business and Professional Code and also will amend part of the Government Code pertaining…
Read MoreCalifornia Passes New Data Broker Law In Anticipation of January 1, 2020 Effective Date of California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”)
Updated 6.21.24 Software companies in the business of brokering data are on notice: the state of California intends to keep you on a tight leash. In anticipation of the January 1, 2020 effective date of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), California took yet another bold step to protecting the personal information of Californians when…
Read MoreSoftware Industry Concerned About the Potential Impact of AB-5 on Gig Economy
The Software Industry is closely following legislation in California that, if passed, could have a huge impact on Gig workers and the software companies that rely on them. The legislation at issue is AB 5, which would codify and expand the California Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dynamex Operations v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.…
Read MoreShould Law Enforcement Agencies’ Use of Facial Recognition Software Be Subject to Regulation?
As The New York Times and The Washington Post recently reported, facial recognition software is being heavily utilized by government agencies, who are using the software to search state driver’s license databases, despite the fact that most of the photos in the databases are of citizens who have never committed a crime and have never given…
Read MoreCalifornia Agrees to Delay Enforcement of Net Neutrality Law
The State of California has just agreed to delay the enforcement of S. B. 822, also known as the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018, until litigation is decided regarding whether the FCC can preempt state net neutrality laws is decided by the US Court of Appeals for the District of…
Read MoreCalifornia Governor Signs Net Neutrality Law; Department of Justice Responds with Suit to Block Law
Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law S.B. 822, also known as the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018. The law is intended to go into effect on January 1, 2019 and, according to CNN, will establish the “strictest net neutrality protections in the country.” However, the U.S. government has responded…
Read MoreTechnology and Telecommunication Companies Lobby Congress to Adopt Federal Privacy Bill to Pre-empt California Data Privacy Law
USA Today is reporting that multiple technology and telecommunication companies are lobbying Congress to pass federal privacy legislation that would pre-empt the new privacy law recently passed in California which grants sweeping protections to consumers. In particular, USA Today reports that Amazon, AT&T, Apple, Google, Twitter and Charter Communications are leading the lobbying effort and…
Read MoreIn Aftermath of GDPR, California Passes Consumer Privacy Act of 2018
After spending months preparing to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), software companies now have a new U.S. data privacy law to be concerned with. California has just passed a landmark data privacy law of its own: the Consumer Privacy Act of 2018. To view the text of the law, click…
Read MoreCalifornia to Consider Bill that Restores Net Neutrality
The California legislature is considering a bill that would restore net neutrality on a state-wide level when the FCC repeal of net neutrality takes effect next week. The California net neutrality bill, SB 822, was written by State Senator Scott D. Wiener, D-San Francisco. The text of SB 822 is attached here. According to the…
Read MoreCalifornia Notifies App-Based Ride Service Uber and Competitors that Service is Illegal
The big story on the Internet today is about the new app-based ride service Uber: California regulators have just notified Uber and its competitors, Lyft and Sidecar, that the services are illegal under California law. An article by Forbes Contributor Mark Rogowsky offers a fairly comprehensive explanation of California’s problem with these services. Apparently the…
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