Last week’s annual Georgetown Law Advanced E-Discovery Institute in McLean, Va. opened with a keynote address from J. Trevor Hughes, president and CEO of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, who addressed the exponential rise of privacy issues in the digital age. Through numerous examples, he described how the Big Data explosion has brought forth myriad of challenges related to privacy that affect our communications in a multitude of ways – many of which we are not even aware.

The federal government’s role in protecting U.S. citizens and critical infrastructure from cyber attacks has been the subject of recent congressional interest. Critical infrastructure commonly refers to those entities that are so vital that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating impact on national security, economic security, or the public health and safety. This report discusses selected legal issues that frequently arise in the context of recent legislation to address vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to cyber threats, efforts to protect government networks from cyber threats, and proposals to facilitate and encourage sharing of cyber threat information among private sector and government entities. This report also discusses the degree to which federal law may preempt state law.

Sacramento – Today, Assembly member Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) announced AB 844 which would protect consumers' personal information when making credit card purchases online. The bill is in response to the recent ruling by the California Supreme Court that online retailers can continue to require customers purchasing with credit cards to provide personal information.

"AB 844 increases consumer privacy while also ensuring appropriate fraud and identity theft protection. The bill will better protect consumers' privacy by safeguarding against the exploitation of personal information," said Dickinson, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Banking and Finance.

The Song-Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971 regulates credit card transactions in order to protect the personal information of consumers by limiting the type of information that can be solicited. On February 4, 2013, the California Supreme Court held in Apple, Inc. v. Superior Court that the Act does not apply to online products that are downloadable. Therefore, online retailers may continue to require consumers to provide personal data, such as home address and/or phone number, to verify their credit card when buying a downloadable product.

"In today's high-tech world, the privacy of online consumers is continually susceptible to being violated. The court's decision will further impair the privacy of online consumers," Dickinson added.

Specifically, AB 844:

• Prohibits an operator of any commercial internet website or online service that collects personal identifiable information for a credit card or debit card transaction from requiring anything other than a zip code to complete the transaction.
• The bill adds exemptions such as when a credit card is used as a deposit to secure payment, cash advance transfers, if contractually obligated to collect or obligated to collect pursuant to state or federal law, and if needed for shipping purposes.
• Modernizes current privacy law by taking out outdated terms and adding current terms.

AB 844 has been referred to the Assembly Committee on Banking and Finance.