It seems like every newsletter update contains yet another enactment of a new state privacy law. And while this is great news for consumers, it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of whether your state has strong privacy laws. Recently, a new ranking of the best and worst states for data privacy was released, and we thought it was a good idea to examine these rankings. Here are some notes from the top-five tiers:
- California: The par exemplar of state privacy protections, California’s regulations cover more issues than most states are probably aware of. Its state constitution also explicitly mentions a right to privacy, which is one reason why online privacy is taken so seriously. Multiple laws, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 allow users to refuse the collection of their data as well as to know what data is being always collected.
- Connecticut: This state comes in second because, although not quite as strong as California’s, its privacy law is often the model for privacy law adoptions by other states. It not only forces companies to limit the collection of personal data for reasonable purposes, but it also creates security practices to protect the confidentiality of all data collected.
- Colorado & Virginia: These two states come in third because, although they do not have the same notable protections as California and Connecticut, their laws still protect consumers through basic-but-important requirements, such as forcing companies to publicly display their privacy policies on their websites. They also allow consumers to opt-out of their personal data being sold to third parties (which is critical for consumer protection).
- Illinois, Michigan, New York, Oregon: On the fourth tier, there are some notable state protections for privacy. Illinois, for example, was the first state to enact laws protecting biometric data (e.g., fingerprints and retina scans) in 2008. New York’s privacy law, which has been in effect for more 40 years protects from the random collection of your personal data.
- Washington, New Jersey, New Mexico, Maryland, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Florida: The final group of states include members who have either recently issued new privacy laws or are in the process of introducing new laws. Because many of these new laws are modeled after the Connecticut privacy law, it might be safe to say that Connecticut’s is the United States’ unofficial privacy protection law.
