[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!