Data Protection
By Leslie Veloz
On October 13th, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 853, which amends the California Artificial Intelligence Transparency Act (AI Transparency Act (SB 942)), a law placing obligations on makers of generative AI systems aimed at increasing transparency to allow individuals to more easily assess whether digital content is generated or modified using AI.
Read MoreOn Oct. 13, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 243 – Companion Chatbots. SB 243, authored by Senator Steve Padilla, requires operators of companion chatbot platforms to notify users that the chatbot is AI, provide specific disclosures to minors, and restrict harmful content. The law also includes a private right of action.
Read MoreOn October 13th, 2025, Governor Newsom signed the Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) into law. Introduced by co-authors Assembly Member Buffy Wicks and Senator Tom Umberg, the law establishes age-assurance requirements for computer and mobile operating system providers and app stores as well as app developers with an aim to protect children’s online safety. The Digital Age Assurance Act enters into effect on January 1, 2027.
Read MoreOn October 8, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 656 — Account Cancellation. AB 656, authored by Assembly member Pilar Schiavo, focuses on social media platforms and requires them to provide users with a clear and accessible way to delete their accounts. This action must also trigger the complete deletion of the user’s personal data.
Read MoreOn October 8, 2025, California’s Governor Newsom signed AB 566—the California Opt Me Out Act—into law. The California Opt Me Out Act, using the same definitions as the CCPA, requires any business that develops or maintains an internet browser to build in an opt-out preference signal (“OOPS”) functionality. The law takes effect on January 1, 2027.
Read MoreOn October 8, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 361 into law. Introduced by Senator Josh Becker, the bill amends California’s Data Broker Registration Law (and amendments to the law under the Delete Act) with additional disclosure requirements for data brokers.
Read MoreBy Emily Litka
This is the second in a series of blog posts about the DOJ Rule regarding Access To U.S. Sensitive Personal Data and Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern or Covered Persons (the “DOJ Rule”). It provides an overview of one of the categories of data that is in scope under the DOJ Rule: bulk U.S. sensitive personal data.
Read MoreOn September 30th, the IAPP (formerly the International Association of Privacy Professionals) released its EU Digital Laws Report 2025, a comprehensive analysis explaining and synthesizing the requirements of core EU digital laws. The report aims to provide a resource to help the broadest possible class of organizations, platforms, and developers comply with the Data Governance Act, the Data Act, the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act, the EU AI Act, and the NIS2 Directive.
Read MoreBy Hansenard Piou and Sam Castic
This is the first in a series of blog posts about the DOJ Rule regarding Access To U.S. Sensitive Personal Data and Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern or Covered Persons (the “DOJ Rule”). It provides a high-level overview of the kinds of cross-border data transfers that are regulated by the DOJ Rule. Future blog posts will more closely examine the DOJ Rule, its requirements, potential impacts, and strategies to address compliance.
Read MoreHintze Law PLLC is excited to announce that Clara De Abreu E Souza has joined the firm as a first-year Associate in the Seattle office.
Read MoreThis year, eight of Hintze Law’s attorneys have been recognized by Best Lawyers® across a variety of categories, marking a significant milestone for the firm. Every one of our associates earned recognition, reflecting both the breadth of talent within our team and the dedication each attorney brings to their practice.
Read MoreBy Sam Castic
The post below was originally published by the IAPP at https://iapp.org/news/a/10-areas-for-privacy-programs-to-focus-in-2025.
This past year was another jammed one for privacy teams and it was not easy to stay on top of all the privacy litigation, enforcement trends, and new laws and regulations in the U.S.
Read MoreBy Emily Litka
In September 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsome signed a number of new generative AI (“genAI”) bills into law. These laws address risks associated with deepfakes, training dataset transparency, use of genAI in healthcare settings, privacy, and AI literacy in schools. California is the first US state to enact such sweeping genAI regulations.
Read MoreOur latest snapshot of recent privacy law developments from around the world.
Read MoreOn February 29, 2016, the European Commission issued a draft “adequacy decision” introducing the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (“Privacy Shield”). The Privacy Shield replaces the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework (“Safe Harbor”) as the new data transfer agreement legitimizing transfer of EU personal data to the U.S. by certifying participants. As described and linked to in the Commission’s press release, several U.S. government agencies have provided written commitments to enforce the Privacy Shield. These commitments will be published in the U.S. Federal Register.
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