North America: Privacy

California's Senate Bill 690 eliminates the private right of action for pen register claims under CIPA when violations arise from website or mobile app tracking technologies, leaving enforcement solely to the Attorney General. The bill applies retroactively to claims filed after January 1, 2025, and awaits Governor Newsom's signature with an operative date of January 1, 2027.

I hear some version of this from general counsel more often every year: they don't blindly trust their outside firm anymore, they verify it, the same way they verify every other vendor with access to their data. That shift catches a lot of firms off guard. Lawyers see themselves as trusted advisors, but procurement and legal ops teams see a law firm as one more party holding sensitive information. To them, that means proof, not just a handshake.

California Senate Bill 690 has passed, amending the California Invasion of Privacy Act by eliminating the private right of action for Section 638.51 claims. Kristine Argentine and Paul Yovanic Jr. discuss the implications of this legislative change and what businesses should expect when the amendment takes effect on January 1, 2027.