Misinformation and amendments derailed a bill on data-driven pricing, also called “surveillance pricing,” that was nearing the finish line in California. After Senate appropriators last week narrowed the legislation to apply only to grocery stores (see 2509020025), Assemblymember Chris Ward (D) punted AB-446 to next year, he said in a statement Thursday.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to weigh in on whether the state’s Daniel’s Law imposes strict liability on data brokers for posting private information online, or if proof of intent is required.
Draft regulations to implement the New Jersey Data Protection Act (NJDPA) may exceed the statute, said advertising, tech industry and news media groups in comments to the New Jersey attorney general’s office’s Division of Consumer Affairs. They suggested that New Jersey try to align more closely with other states that have comprehensive privacy laws.
The FCC will hold a workshop Sept. 11 for tribes and native Hawaiian organizations during the Coalition of Large Tribes quarterly meeting in Prior Lake, Minnesota, the agency announced Friday. Among the topics to be discussed are proposed changes to the commission’s National Environmental Policy Act rules (see 2508150050), which have raised tribal concerns. FCC staff will also offer updates on proposed pole attachment changes and “technology transitions,” the notice said. The meeting is scheduled from 1:15-4 p.m. at the Mystic Lake Center. Afterward, staff will be available for in-person consultations.
New Environmental Health Trust (EHT) President Joe Sandri said he wants to popularize the idea that, similar to how cars are marketed based on their safety, wireless services and devices can be sold based on their safety in terms of RF exposure. Sandri was a longtime telecom executive who headed FiberTower, which was bought by AT&T, and IDT Spectrum, which Verizon ultimately absorbed. “I know a lot … from the perspective of an industry player,” he said. He was picked for the top job at EHT in August.
Automakers were united in raising concerns about an FCC proposal to update its “covered list” of unsecure companies to reflect a January finding by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security on connected vehicles (see 2505270059). Many groups have already opposed the proposal (see 2506300052). In filings Thursday and Friday, four automakers weighed in separately in docket 18-89, arguing that the proposal works against the Trump administration's goal of reinvigorating U.S. auto manufacturing.
A newly required annual report to Congress on certain dual-use export license applications could cause exporters to be more cautious about seeking those licenses, a trade lawyer said in an interview.
Congress should amend the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and preempt all state privacy laws from regulating financial services, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said in comments to the House Financial Services Committee.
The FCC's NPRM examining whether light poles should come under its regulation will get vigorous opposition from utility and local government interests, we're told. Adopted at its July meeting, the NPRM asks whether Section 224 of the Communications Act, which governs pole attachments, also covers light poles (see 2507280053).
An Ohio law requiring websites targeting children younger than 18 to obtain parental consent before engaging in contracts with minors is not a violation of the First Amendment, said a bipartisan coalition of 31 states plus the District of Columbia in a joint amicus brief to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday. Later that day, South Carolina filed a document joining the coalition in asking the court to reverse a district court's 2024 decision to block the law (see 2402130041).