[jdp23]

It's very good in that it's significant progress over other US-based laws. Then again if you compare it to the much stronger privacy protections in the EU, there's still a looooong way to go.

It's true that California's legislation gets a lot of industry input, and they're not going to pass something puts the big tech companies out of business. On the other hand, there's a very effective coalition of privacy organizers there -- who are quite familiar with tech's tactics, and can be very effective at cutting through tech's spin with legislators. Plus, the California Privacy Protection Agency (which got established by a referendum, not through the legislature) has a lot of clout -- there isn't anything comparable in any other US state.

Washington state has similar dynamics, although with the CPPA equivalent. Microsoft and Amazon are hugely influential here; but, grassroots organizers had repeatedly stopped them from getting the very weak Bad Washington Privacy Act through the legislature. And this year, we passed My Health My Data -- stronger in some ways than California's privacy law.

Texas ... has been a disappointment. The privacy law they passed this year is based on the Bad Washington Privacy Act but significantly weaker.

[dmarti]

WA MHMD is a game changer because private right of action. Doesn't rely on the attorney general or a dedicated privacy agency to take action -- private lawyers can.

(Technically not the first privacy law with private right of action because the Video Privacy Protection Act has one, but that law was originally passed to cover videotape rentals and the courts are still working out how it applies to video content on the Internet)

[jdp23]

Yeah, that's one of the big ways that it's stronger than California's law (where the private right of action is limited to data breaches). [Another way is that it's opt-in, with an additional authorization for sale of data; California's law is opt-out.]

Of course MHMD doesn't take effect until after the next legislative session, so I'm sure there will be attempts to weaken it. So I'm not counting any chickens quite yet!