This Monday, Virginia state lawmakers advanced the Senate bill that would provide a basic level of comprehensive data protection to its citizens, which officially passed later on Friday. While the Calhoun v. Google court hearing took place on Thursday to further discuss the issue of online data recognized as personal property under California law.
“Virginia Passes Data Privacy Law,” ACA International – February 19, 2021
- On Friday February 19, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act was officially passed by the Virginia House of Representatives (89-9) and Senate (39-0). Governor Ralph Northam is expected to sign within the next couple weeks. If Northam does sign, the bill will take effect January 1, 2023.
“Upcoming Court Hearing on Thursday, Feb. 18 may answer the question: do you own your online data?” Data Dividend Project – February 19, 2021
- On Thursday February 18, the California Federal Court held a hearing on the lawsuit against Google for its alleged data privacy violations around it’s Chrome browser. Judge Koh asked many questions throughout the hearing, but focused on one very important question, is a consumer’s online data considered personal property under California law?
With data mining posing a greater threat these days, the demand for elite security solutions is presenting a big window of opportunity for the data security market.
“Big Data Security Market is anticipated to grow USD 36.55 Billion at a Healthy CAGR of 16.9% by the end of 2023,” MarketWatch – February 15, 2021
- The “soaring demand” for high-security programs is projected to grow well into 2023 as more companies must adopt data security practices which often require reliable third-party managed security services.
Over the week, Facebook released a statement admitting to the company’s miscommunication with it’s WhatsApp users on their privacy policy update. A few days later, the tech giant introduced a new function on the messaging app that will act as an easier, more accessible approach to explaining privacy updates.
“Facebook admits it bungled its WhatsApp privacy policy update,” MSN – February 18, 2021
- Facebook published a blog post apologizing for the miscommunication between WhatsApp and its users about their privacy policy update, promising that they are working to “make our voice clear moving forward.”
“Following backlash, WhatsApp to roll out in-app banner to better explain its privacy update,” TechCrunch – February 18, 2021
- After losing millions of WhatsApp users, Facebook worked to regain some trust back by asking for their users’ feedback and listening to concerns. Resulting in the development of an informational in-app banner explaining their data privacy update.