We all know by now a stringent new law – the General Data Protection Regulation – or GDPR in short, is coming on this month. Various experts have already voiced their opinions on how this new law, imposed by the European Union (EU) will affect Online business.
In an interview on the Stanford Law University blog, CIS Director of Privacy Albert Gidari has explained how the new regulation will affect American users. In response to a question on whether there was any similar legislation pending before the US Congress to address digital privacy in the US, he replied that the US was “unlikely to see any comprehensive federal privacy legislation in the near future.” In his opinion, the states were more proactive — for example, California has a ballot initiative called the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which would install GDPR-like requirements as to consent, disclosure & transparency for California residents. But it seemed “very unlikely” that there would be an omnibus privacy law at the federal level.
Albert Gidari, who is the Director of Privacy at the Center for Internet & Society at Stanford Law School, said US history & experience were just different than the EU, which has long treated privacy as a human right applicable horizontally across all industry sectors. Whereas in the US, privacy was treated on an industry-by-industry basis or vertically. Privacy laws were tailored to the risks associated with the industry here, he added.
Click here to read the rest of the interview.
