Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On November 1, 2023, 29 nations, including the U.S., the UK, the EU and China (full list available here), reached a ground-breaking agreement, known as the Bletchley Declaration. The Declaration sets forth a shared understanding of the opportunities and risks posed by AI and the need for governments to work together to meet the most significant challenges posed by the technology. The Declaration states  that there is an urgent need to understand and collectively manage the potential risks posed by AI to ensure the technology is developed and deployed in a safe, responsible way. The Declaration was signed at the AI Safety Summit 2023, held at Bletchley Park in the UK.

On October 30, 2023, U.S. President Biden issued an Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. It marks the Biden Administration’s most comprehensive action on artificial intelligence policy, building upon the Administration’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights (issued in October 2022) and its announcement (in July 2023) of securing voluntary commitments from 15 leading AI companies to manage AI risks.

On October 19, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) proposed a new rule that would provide consumers with more control over their financial information and impose certain requirements on the following types of entities:

October 12, 2023, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) announced a €600,000 fine for mass media company Groupe Canal+ for failing to comply with its commercial prospecting obligations applicable under the French Post and Electronic Communications Code and several obligations of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

On October 27, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it has approved an amendment to the Safeguards Rule that would require non-banking institutions to report certain data breaches to the FTC. The FTC’s Safeguards Rule currently requires certain types of non-banking financial institutions, such as mortgage brokers, motor vehicle dealers, and payday lenders, to develop, implement and maintain a comprehensive security program to keep their customers’ information safe. The amendment will require such financial institutions to notify the FTC as soon as possible, and no later than 30 days after discovery, of a security breach involving the unauthorized acquisition of unencrypted customer  information of at least 500 consumers. The notice to the FTC will need to include certain information about the event, such as the number of consumers affected or potentially affected.

On October 30, 2023, the G7 leaders announced they had reached agreement on a set of International Guiding Principles on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a voluntary Code of Conduct for AI developers, pursuant to the Hiroshima AI Process. The Hiroshima AI Process was established at the G7 Summit in May 2023 to promote guardrails for advanced AI systems at a global level.

On October 17, 2023, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (“OPC”) announced the release of two companion documents that provide further guidance on protecting the privacy of young people. This guidance follows the recently adopted resolution on young people’s privacy by federal, provincial, and territorial regulators earlier in the month.

On October 26, 2023, the UK Online Safety Act (the “Act”) received Royal Assent, making it law in the UK. The Act seeks to protect children from online harm and imposes obligations on relevant organizations, including social media platforms, to prevent and remove illegal and harmful content. In a press release, the UK Government stated that the Act “takes a zero-tolerance approach to protecting children from online harm, while empowering adults with more choices over what they see online.” For example, the Act requires relevant organizations to:

On October 8, 2023 and October 10, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed A.B. 947, A.B. 1194, S.B. 362 and S.B. 244 into law. A.B. 947 amends the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018’s (“CCPA”) definition of “sensitive personal information” to include personal information that reveals a consumer’s “citizenship or immigration status,” while A.B. 1194 amends the CCPA to require a business to comply with the obligations imposed by the CCPA if the personal information collected by the business contains information related to accessing, procuring or searching for services regarding contraception, pregnancy care and perinatal care, including, but not limited to, abortion services, unless the personal information is used for a specified business purposes as defined by the CCPA, is only retained in aggregated and deidentified form and is not sold or shared.

On October 18, 2023, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed an appeal to overturn a preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California last month that prevents the enforcement of the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (“CA AADC”). The appeal was submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and marks an important step in assessing the potential progress of the CA AADC.