United States: Privacy

Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 690 into law, fundamentally altering who can bring claims under California's pen register and trap and trace statute. The legislation restricts private plaintiffs from pursuing website and app-based Section 638.51 claims against private actors, reserving such enforcement exclusively for the California Attorney General.

California Governor Newsom signed SB 690, eliminating private plaintiffs' ability to sue under the pen register provision of the Invasion of Privacy Act for website tracking activities. The new law, effective January 1, 2027, transfers enforcement authority exclusively to the Attorney General and applies retroactively to pending claims filed within two years, though other CIPA provisions remain vulnerable to private litigation.

State attorneys general across the nation are taking decisive action on multiple fronts, from challenging federal AI oversight gaps and protecting commercial driver privacy to cracking down on deceptive marketing practices and medical debt collection violations. Major settlements address data breaches affecting millions of consumers, while new lawsuits target charitable fraud, kratom product misrepresentation, and toxic heavy metals in baby food.

Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 690 into law, fundamentally altering who can bring claims under California's pen register and trap and trace statute. The legislation restricts private plaintiffs from pursuing website and app-based Section 638.51 claims against private actors, reserving such enforcement exclusively for the California Attorney General.

California Senate Bill 690 eliminates private lawsuits under Penal Code § 638.51 for alleged pen register violations involving website tracking technologies, while leaving other privacy claims intact. The legislation addresses aggressive litigation tactics but does not create broad exemptions for commercial website activity or amend California's wiretapping provisions. Businesses must understand both the relief provided and the significant limitations of this narrow reform.

The Perfect Law Class Action Conference at NYU brought together practitioners and academics from Europe, Canada, and the United States to debate cutting-edge issues in class action litigation, with particular focus on privacy violations, securities fraud, and the transformative impact of artificial intelligence. The conference explored how Article III standing requirements are shaping privacy class actions, with detailed analysis of recent cases demonstrating the critical importance of pleading specific, se