Articles

As summer approaches, the Insights Association continues to engage on state privacy legislation, new prohibitions on selling insights services to Russia, the Census Bureau’s Ask U.S. Panel, possible taxes aimed at online insights companies, and other pressing policy issues.

Consumer privacy and data security

While IA was seeking changes to comprehensive privacy legislation in Louisiana and Pennsylvania, Connecticut rebuffed our entreaties, becoming the fifth U.S. state with such a law as Governor Ned Lamont (D) signed Connecticut S.B. 6 on May 10 .

Virginia also updated its comprehensive law, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA), coming into effect January 1, 2023.

The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) comes into effect that same day, superseding CCPA, and California legislators aren’t done with aggressive privacy legislation, including:

• California S.B. 1059 would expand the California data broker registry’s reach, requirements, and penalties for violations;
• The California Workplace Technology Accountability Act would severely restrict employers and their vendors from collecting and using worker data in the style of (and overlapping/conflicting with) CCPA/CPRA, but enforced by private litigation; and
• The California Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act would restrict some online platforms from addicting children to the Internet, including through use or sale of their personal data. Terms in the bill are broad enough to include some insights companies/services, and violations would be subject to private lawsuits.

At the federal level, IA checked out a disparate pair of privacy bills:

• The NTIA Policy and Cybersecurity Coordination Act would put an oft-forgotten agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce in charge of U.S. consumer data privacy and security; and
• The Protecting Investors’ Personally Identifiable Information Act would prohibit the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from requiring personally identifiable information to be collected for purposes of audit trail reporting.

We are also preparing to engage on comprehensive privacy regulation issues at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). With the Senate confirmation of Alvaro Bedoya to be an FTC commissioner, filling the last open spot, the FTC, the nation’s premier regulator/enforcer of the insights industry, is positioned to propose new federal privacy rules soon.

International

IA analyzed a new U.S. Treasury Department prohibition on offering most insights services to most anyone in Russia, effective June 7, 2022, as part of the Administration’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Census

The Insights Association (IA) continues to raise concerns about the Census Bureau's Ask U.S. Panel project, which would subsidize a private entity to develop a probability-based online research panel instead of purchasing the service from existing providers that already offer the service on the open market. We also testified on the issue and legislative solutions we seek at the House Appropriations Committee.

Tax

The Senate Commerce Committee passed the Funding Affordable Internet with Reliable (FAIR) Contributions Act, a bill that would potentially shift the financing model for the Universal Service Fund (USF) from taxing telephone users to taxing companies that operate online. The Insights Association provided comments to the committee prior to passage, sharing our concerns about the outcome.

Human resources

The New York legislature is considering:

• The End Employer Collusion Act (S. 562 and A. 1643), which would prohibit noncompete agreements for employees of franchises and punish violations with private litigation; and
• S. 1241 and A. 6117, which would presume exposure to COVID-19 to be an occupationally acquired illness for purposes of worker’s compensation law.

Continuing the fight for the insights industry

The Insights Association is grateful for all our members and sponsors -- you provide the resources we require to defend and advance the whole insights industry. IA is the ONLY association fighting for you on all these issues (and more) in the U.S.

We remain available to answer your questions on these and other legislative/regulatory/legal issues. Please just reach out.

This information is not intended and should not be construed as or substituted for legal advice. It is provided for informational purposes only. It is advisable to consult with private counsel on the precise scope and interpretation of any laws/regulation/legislation and their impact on your particular business.