February may have the fewest days, but this month certainly is not short on legislative activity pertinent to the insights community, including comprehensive privacy bills, data security legislation, new taxes on the industry, liability limitation for COVID-19-related exposure, new leadership to oversee the census, and new rules for determining independent contractor status. Changes are also in the works for California A.B. 2257.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) released a report on the European Union's data protection strategy for the next four years, regarding the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other issues.

The Insights Association and ten other data-focused trade associations have come out in opposition to California Proposition 24, calling it "a premature and ill-timed overhaul of California’s privacy law."

August is normally quiet in Washington, DC, but in keeping with the theme of 2020, this month has been more frenetic. While we beat back new taxes on the insights industry, the Insights Association has had to tangle with the demise of the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield for data transfer, further pandemic relief, some new threats to pharma MR, the finalization of CCPA, and an attempt to rush the 2020 Census that threatens the statistical viability of most marketing research and data analytics in the U.S.

Not five years ago, the European Court of Justice struck down the Safe Harbor, the primary legal vehicle for transatlantic data transfers. Now, the court appears to have done the same to its replacement, the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield.

To “fuel… breakthrough innovations” in the fight against COVID-19, the Republican ranking member on the House Energy & Commerce Committee says that Congress needs to “build and keep consumer trust” by taking action on “a national data privacy standard.”

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) recently released “key privacy principles that should factor into any assessment of measures proposed to combat COVID-19 that have an impact on the privacy of Canadians.”

Warning that “the current exercise in physical distancing in which most nations are engaged has exposed important gaps in societies’ digital readiness,” the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) recently proposed a series of future stimulus actions for policymakers, including the enactment of a federal privacy law.

Marketing research and data analytics companies and departments that operate as business associates under HIPAA have a bit more leeway in handling disclosure of protected health information during the COVID-19 crisis if the data relates to public health

Our Privacy for America coalition submitted comments for a "paper" hearing in Congress on Big Data and combatting the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.