EFF works every year to improve policy in ways that protect your digital rights in states across the country.
Thanks to the messages of hundreds of EFF members across the country, we've spoken up for digital rights this year from Sacramento to Augusta.
Much of EFF's state legislative work has, historically, been in our home state of California-also often the most active state on digital civil liberties issues.
This year, the Golden State passed several laws that strengthen consumer digital rights.
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and Californians for Consumer Privacy led the fight on this bill, which builds on the state's landmark data privacy law and makes it easier for Californians to control their data through the state's data broker registry.
States across the country continue to legislate at the intersection of digital privacy and reproductive rights.
Both in California and beyond, EFF has worked with reproductive justice activists, medical practitioners, and other digital rights advocates to ensure that data from apps, electronic health records, law enforcement databases, and social media posts are not weaponized to prosecute those seeking or aiding those who seek reproductive or gender-affirming care.
While some states are directly targeting those who seek this type of health care, other states are taking different approaches to strengthen protections.
In California, EFF supported a bill that passed into law-A.B. 352, authored by CA Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan-which extended the protections of California's health care data privacy law to apps such as period trackers.
While EFF did not take a position on H.B. 1155, we do applaud the law's opt-in consent provisions and encourage other states to consider similar bills.
Since California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act in 2018, several states have passed their own versions of consumer privacy legislation.
Many of these laws have been more consumer-hostile and business-friendly than EFF would like to see.
EFF did not support any of these laws, many of which can trace their lineage to a weak Virginia law we opposed in 2021.
Not all of them are equally bad. For example, while EFF could not support the Oregon bill after a legislative deal stripped it of its private right of action, the law is a strong starting point for privacy legislation moving forward.
While it has its flaws, unique among all other state privacy laws, it requires businesses to share the names of actual third parties, rather than simply the categories of companies that have your information.
EFF also wants to give plaudits to Montana for another bill-a strong genetic privacy bill passed this year.
The bill is a good starting point for other states, and shows Montana is thinking critically about how to protect people from overbroad data collection and surveillance.
Of course, one post can't capture all the work we did in states this year.
In particular, the curious should read our upcoming Year in Review post specifically focused on children's privacy, speech, and censorship bills introduced in states this year.
EFF was able to move the ball forward on several issues this year-and will continue to fight for your digital rights in statehouses from coast to coast.
This Cyber News was published on www.eff.org. Publication date: Fri, 29 Dec 2023 20:13:04 +0000