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.

As the beginning of enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gets closer, the leading nonprofit trade association representing the insights industry pleaded for greater clarity fro

With the coronavirus response causing havoc across the business community, the Insights Association joined 65 other industry groups to implore California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to "forebear from enforcing the CCPA until January 2, 2021 so businesses are able to build processes that are in line with the final regulations before they may be subject to enforcement actions for allegedly violating the law’s terms."

In support of "consumer privacy in California and streamlining CCPA compliance for both businesses and consumers," the Insights Association urged further changes to the second draft of regulations