Tag Archives: Joseph Kniaz

Considering a National Security Framework for Protecting Personal Data

by Avi Gesser and Joseph Kniaz

We have recently written on whether protecting personal data should be regulated using a property model instead of a privacy model (and concluded, probably not).  Another framework for regulating personal data that is getting increased attention is a national security model, which looks at securing personal data as a means of protecting the country from unfriendly government actors or agents who might use that data to harm the national interest.    

At the “Washington Comes to Silicon Valley” conference on October 22, John Demers, the Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s National Security Division, said that the U.S. government is concerned about national security risks posed by foreign companies acquiring personal data of U.S. citizens through corporate acquisitions.  One concern with such acquisitions is that if sensitive personal data of American officials falls into the hands of foreign governments, that information could be used to extort or blackmail individuals with access to classified information. Continue reading →

Federal Privacy Legislation Is Coming. Maybe. Here’s What It Might Include

by Avi Gesser, Jon Leibowitz, Mathew Kelly, Joseph Kniaz, and Daniel F. Forester

Momentum is building for federal data privacy legislation, in large part due to the passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (which goes into effect in 2020) and other states enacting or considering their own consumer privacy laws.  These developments have businesses concerned that they will face a patchwork of inconsistent and onerous state privacy laws, which is currently the case with breach notification.  Many leading tech companies, trade groups, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have voiced support for a national privacy law.  On top of these domestic considerations, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), a sweeping privacy law that affects many U.S. companies conducting business in the EU, is also now in effect.  Several legislative proposals have been put forward in Congress, and we are starting to see the broad outlines of a potential law.  But for many of the details, there is still nothing close to a consensus.  Here are some of the issues that will likely be the subject of the most intense debate in the next congressional term: Continue reading →