When the CCPA was first enacted, it was seemingly clear that its right to private action would be limited to traditional data breaches. Over the past two years, however, some courts have called this interpretation into question by expanding the CCPA’s private right of action clause beyond the traditional breach scenario—and instead into alleged privacy violations. A recent holding from the Northern District of California could signal that more of those claims could be tacked onto the wiretap cases that are already flooding dockets.

In many ways, Allison v. PHH Mortgage is a fairly standard website tracking case predicated on allegations that tracking devices on a business’s website disclosed users’ personal information without their knowledge or consent. However, in addition to CIPA, ECPA, and the usual accompanying claims, the plaintiffs also brought a claim under the CCPA. On March 27, 2026, the Northern District of California denied PHH Mortgage’s motion to dismiss the CCPA claim, finding that the express language of the statute does not limit private rights of action to traditional data breaches. The court held that “[n]othing in the plain language of the provision limits its application to data breaches by third parties.” Instead, the court held that the CCPA’s private right of action covers unauthorized disclosure of personal information regardless of whether the disclosure was intentional or negligent, and regardless of whether it was made by a third party or the business’s own agents.

Although earlier cases such as Shah v. Capital One Financial Corp. and M.G. v. Therapymatch Inc. came to similar outcomes, the Allison holding shows that courts continue to consider broadening the scope of the CCPA’s private right of action and that they will do so with more reasoned opinions. Businesses with an online presence should take time to audit their use of third-party tracking technologies and privacy disclosures now to help ensure privacy compliance and make conscious decisions regarding risk moving forward.

On March 20, 2026, the White House released its National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence. This Framework contains a sweeping set of legislative recommendations intended to establish a coherent, nationally unified approach to AI governance. While the Framework does not itself create binding legal obligations, it is likely to shape federal AI legislation in the months and years ahead. This post summarizes the Framework’s key areas of focus and considers what its influence could mean for the current state regulatory landscape.

  1. Protecting Children and Empowering Parents

The Framework recommends that Congress establish privacy protections and age-verification requirements for AI services likely to be accessed by children, including providing parents with tools to manage their children’s privacy settings, screen time, and content exposure. The Framework also urges Congress to require AI platforms to implement features that reduce the risks of sexual exploitation and self-harm to minors and to continue enforcing prohibitions on nonconsensual disclosures of intimate depictions. Notably, the Framework recommends that any federal legislation should not preempt states from enforcing their own generally applicable laws protecting children, such as prohibitions on child sexual abuse material. It also contemplates strengthening existing state-level restrictions on the use of children’s data for training AI models and targeted advertising.

  1. Safeguarding and Strengthening American Communities

The Framework’s second goal focuses on enabling continued growth of AI infrastructure while protecting communities from associated harms. It recommends streamlining federal permitting for the construction and operation of AI facilities and supports AI developers’ ability to develop on-site power generation, while protecting residential ratepayers from increased energy costs related to AI data centers, providing AI resources to small businesses, and augmenting law enforcement tools to combat AI-enabled impersonation scams and fraud.

  1. Respecting Intellectual Property Rights and Supporting Creators

The Framework recommends that Congress provide protections for individuals affected by the unauthorized distribution or commercial use of AI-generated digital replicas of their voice, likeness, or other identifiable attributes, while exempting parody, satire, news reporting, and other expressive works protected by the First Amendment. The Framework also recommends that Congress consider enabling collective licensing frameworks that would allow rights holders to negotiate compensation from AI providers.

  1. Preventing Censorship and Protecting Free Speech

The Framework recommends that Congress take action to prevent the federal government from coercing AI providers to suppress or alter content based on partisan or ideological agendas and establish mechanisms for seeking redress where federal agencies attempt to censor expression on AI platforms.

  1. Enabling Innovation and Ensuring American AI Dominance

The Administration recommends establishing regulatory sandboxes to support AI development and deployment, including making federal datasets accessible in AI-ready formats for use in model training. Significantly, the Framework expressly recommends against creating any new federal rulemaking body to regulate AI, calling instead for AI to be governed through existing regulatory agencies with subject-matter expertise and industry-led standards.

  1. Educating Americans and Developing an AI-Ready Workforce

The Framework recommends that Congress incorporate AI training into existing education and workforce development programs, expand federal efforts to study trends in AI, and bolster capabilities at land-grant institutions to provide technical assistance, launch demonstration projects, and develop youth-centered AI programs.

  1. Establishing a Federal Policy Framework and Preempting State AI Laws

The Framework’s most consequential section for the current regulatory landscape is its recommendation for federal preemption of state AI laws. The Administration recommends that Congress preempt state AI laws that “impose undue burdens,” with the stated goal of establishing a single, minimally burdensome national standard rather than fifty discordant ones.

The Framework does, however, carve out several categories of state law from preemption. States would retain their powers to enforce generally applicable laws against AI developers and users, exercise zoning authority, and regulate states’ own uses of AI for law enforcement or other public services. Outside of these limited carve-outs, the Framework recommends that states not be permitted to regulate AI development, penalize AI developers for third-party unlawful conduct involving their models, or burden the use of AI for activities that would be lawful if performed without AI.

Several states have already taken action to regulate AI development and deployment. Examples include Colorado’s AI Act, which is set to take effect later in 2026, and California’s amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act regulating automated decision-making technologies. The Framework’s interaction with these laws will depend heavily on how Congress translates the Administration’s recommendations into legislation and how broadly any preemption provision is drawn. If broad preemption language is adopted to prohibit state regulation of “AI development,” these and similar statutes could be rendered unenforceable.

Though the Framework provides insight into the Administration’s priorities and indicates a clear direction for future AI legislation, businesses should continue to closely monitor both state and federal legislative developments moving forward.

On March 20, 2026, Oklahoma’s governor signed S.B. 546 making Oklahoma the latest state to enact a comprehensive state privacy law.  The law, effective January 1, 2027, applies to organizations doing business in Oklahoma or targeting residents in Oklahoma that either (i) process 100,000 Oklahoma consumers’ personal data or (ii) process 25,000 Oklahoma consumers’ personal data and derive more than half of its revenue from selling personal data. 

The law has similar notice, consumer rights, and vendor management obligations as those set forth in many other analogous state comprehensive privacy laws.  For example, under the law, Oklahomans can request to access, correct, delete, and obtain copies of their personal data, as well as opt out of the sale of their personal data and certain targeted advertising practices. 

There are, however, some notable differences between Oklahoma’s law and other state privacy laws. Unlike the approach adopted by most other states, Oklahoma narrowly defines “sale” as exchanges of personal data involving monetary consideration, while other states more broadly define sales to include exchanges of personal data for any valuable consideration.  Additionally, Oklahoma, similar to Minnesota, has adopted a definition of “biometric data” that includes information generated from photo, audio and video when that data is used to identify a specific individual.  In contrast, most other states with comprehensive privacy laws expressly exclude this type of information from their definitions of biometric data.

The law will be enforced exclusively by the Oklahoma Attorney General.  Following receipt of a notice of violation by the Oklahoma Attorney General, and if the violation is cured within the 30-day period, then the Attorney General will not bring a formal action.

With the Colorado legislative session coming to its waning days, many have been eagerly waiting for Colorado AI Act amendment proposals. Absent an amendment, the Colorado AI Act will go into effect as-is on June 30, 2026. This week, the AI Policy Working Group (“Working Group”) released its Proposed Bill. The Working Group’s proposed framework would  still need to be turned into a formal bill, introduced, and passed by the legislature before taking effect.

In connection with its release, Governor Polis expressed his support, stating  he was “very grateful to the hardworking members of the Colorado AI Policy Working Group that have reached a unanimous agreement on AI policy to protect consumers and support innovation in our state.”

Some members of the Working Group, however, were less enthusiastic about the proposal even though it was advanced unanimously. For example, one of the original Colorado AI Act sponsors, Rep. Brianne Titone (D) of Arvada, stated, “while the voting members did agree, there were many caveats to their ‘yes’ votes. It’s a meaningful step forward, but only if the proposed bill can stay on this trajectory.”

Substantively, the Working Group’s proposal limits the scope to automated decision-making technology that processes personal data and takes a more streamlined approach for AI deployers than the current version of the Colorado AI Act, but it also scales back some exemptions. The new approach will almost certainly be the subject of heavy debate in the Colorado legislature.

On the national front, on March 18, 2026, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) released a discussion draft intended to spark congressional negotiations on a federal AI framework that prioritizes children’s online safety and creators’ copyright and publicity interests. The draft folds together provisions drawn from the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and earlier Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act (NO FAKES) proposals.  In doing so, it also proposes requirements such as age verification, chatbot disclosures, provenance/watermarking standards, third-party bias audits, and a private right of action for certain harms to children.

The draft is explicitly a “discussion draft” intended to provide a negotiating position and to harmonize various existing proposals, so any expectations of quick passage of a federal bill should be curbed. But, given the federal government’s focus on preempting state laws (like the Colorado AI Act), the timing of Blackburn’s announcement highlights the upcoming clash between federal and state efforts to regulate the quickly advancing use of AI. At least for the foreseeable future, companies will need to keep an eye on these inevitable changes.

Following the release of the Trump Administration’s new National Cyber Strategy, National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross noted in a virtual interview that the administration is considering changes to the existing cyber incident reporting rules previously promulgated by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). According to Cairncross, the administration wants to ensure the rules “make[] sense for industry” while still providing the government with actionable threat intelligence.

Federal agencies, including CISA, are still gathering feedback on proposals for changes to the rules, and the administration has not yet committed to any specific changes. Still, given Cairncross’s recent comments, companies should expect to see changes to the rules in the near future and be prepared to promptly conform their existing incident response plans and reporting protocols accordingly.

In the span of just a couple days, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CalPrivacy) announced two significant privacy enforcement actions, highlighting the increasing scrutiny on companies’ handling of personal data. These actions underscore the agency’s commitment to ensuring that businesses comply with privacy laws designed to protect individuals’ rights, particularly focusing on transparency and ease of data control for consumers. The cases involve a youth sports media company and the automotive giant Ford, both of which were alleged to have engaged in practices that violated consumers’ opt-out rights.

In the action against PlayOn Sports, CalPrivacy took particular issue with the fact that PlayOn directed users to opt out through the Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance as opposed to providing its own opt-out mechanism. CalPrivacy also alleged a failure to recognize opt-out signals and insufficient privacy notices. In its public announcement, CalPrivacy’s head of enforcement stated that “[s]tudents trying to go to prom or a high school football game shouldn’t have to leave their privacy rights at the door.” PlayOn was fined $1.1 million and agreed to modify its practices.

In a separate action, CalPrivacy alleged that Ford added unnecessary friction to the opt-out process, making it cumbersome for consumers to exercise their right by requiring email verification. The agency acknowledged that Ford “didn’t intend” to require consumers to verify their identities, but it stated that the action shows it “will pursue violations regardless of intent.” As part of the settlement, Ford will pay a fine and has committed to streamlining its opt-out procedures.

These enforcement actions serve as an important reminder that regulators are still extremely focused on public-facing aspects of privacy regimes, and especially the granular details of opt-out mechanisms. Companies should review their processes carefully.

A new bill introduced in Connecticut—Connecticut Senate Bill 117, An Act Concerning Breaches of Security Involving Electronic Personal Information—would create mandatory forensic examination requirements for entities that experience a “massive breach of security,” defined as a data breach affecting at least 100,000 Connecticut residents, and imposes substantial penalties for noncompliance.

SB 117 would require entities that experience a “massive breach of security” to:

  • Immediately retain a qualified third-party forensic examiner to conduct a forensic examination of the computer or computer system that was the subject of the data breach and to prepare a detailed forensic report disclosing how the breach occurred and its root causes;
  • Submit the detailed forensic report to the Connecticut Attorney General within 90 days of discovering the breach; and
  • Face civil penalties of $100,000 for small businesses and $500,000 for other entities for noncompliance.

The entity that experiences a massive data breach bears the cost of the forensic examination and report, regardless of whether the entity retains a third party itself or fails to do so and the Connecticut Attorney General retains a forensic examiner on its behalf. SB 117 would grant the Connecticut Attorney General authority to retain a qualified third party to perform the forensic examination and prepare the forensic report if an entity fails to comply.

If enacted, Connecticut would be the first state to impose automatic forensic examination and forensic reporting requirements for incidents based on a numerical threshold. It also raises serious issues regarding disclosure of confidential and proprietary information and privileged information.

In any event, given the scale of the potential penalties and the mandatory nature of the new requirements, entities that collect, store, or process personal information of Connecticut residents should closely monitor SB 117’s progress in the Assembly. If it passes, companies should establish protocols for engaging qualified third-party forensic examiners immediately upon discovery of a massive data breach and ensure their incident response plans accommodate the 90-day reporting deadline to the Connecticut Attorney General.

On February 5, 2026, Governor Henry McMaster signed into law South Carolina’s Age-Appropriate Code Design Act. South Carolina joins California, Maryland and Vermont in enacting an Age Appropriate Code Design Act that seeks to regulate website design and advertising that appeals specifically to Minors.

The statute applies to online services that conduct business in South Carolina who are “reasonably likely to be accessed” by minors and meet specified revenue or data-processing thresholds-including annual gross revenues exceeding $25 million, processing personal data of 50,000 or more consumers, or deriving at least 50% of revenue from data sales.

South Carolina’s act targets website design elements that encourage excessive engagement by minors, including the following specific features:

  • infinite scroll,
  • auto-playing videos,
  • gamification mechanics,
  • visible engagement metrics,
  • notifications,
  • in-game purchases,
  • and appearance-altering filters.

Websites that offer any of these covered features, and either know minors are visiting or contain websites defined under COPPA to target minors must disable these features by default and offer easy to use controls that enable parents to monitor and restrict their child’s usage of the website. The statute also prohibits targeted advertising to minors, restricts precise geolocation data collection, and bans “dark patterns,” or user interfaces designed to subvert user autonomy.

The South Carolina Attorney General holds exclusive enforcement authority, with covered services facing treble damages for violations, and where the conduct is found to be willful and wanton, the corporations directors and officers can be found personally liable. Dark pattern usage triggers additional exposure under the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act. To ensure compliance, Companies must submit annual public reports prepared by independent auditors detailing design features, data practices, and age verification methods. While this statute may ultimately be challenged on first amendment grounds, companies should not delay compliance. Recommended steps include conducting a threshold analysis, auditing design features against restricted elements, implementing default privacy settings and parental controls for known minors, revising data practices to meet minimization requirements, eliminating targeted advertising and dark patterns, and engaging auditors for the July 1 reporting deadline. Given the immediate effective date and treble damages exposure, affected companies should prioritize compliance.

State privacy enforcement is entering a new phase, and Connecticut is quickly becoming a jurisdiction to watch.  In its third annual Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA) enforcement report, the Office of Attorney General William Tong disclosed for the first time that it has opened multiple active investigations into how messaging platforms, gaming services, and AI chatbot providers collect, use, and protect the personal information of children and teens.

This report is the first to reflect enforcement under Connecticut’s expanded minors’ privacy protections, which took effect in October 2024.  For companies operating nationally, the timing is critical.  Connecticut is joining California and Colorado in elevating minors’ data protection to a top enforcement priority, signaling a broader, coordinated shift in state-level privacy oversight.

Where Connecticut is Focusing Its Investigations

  1. Messaging Apps

    The Connecticut AG issued a notice of violation and inquiry letter to a messaging platform widely used by children and teens, citing deficiencies in privacy notice disclosures and opt-out mechanisms.  The investigation reflects a growing focus on whether platforms:

    • know or deliberately ignore the presence of minor users;
    • restrict adults from sending unsolicited messages to minors; and
    • obtain valid consent for the collection and use of minors’ precise geolocation data.

    The message is clear: platforms cannot remain passive when minors are on their services.

    1. Gaming Platforms

      In May 2025, Connecticut AG sent an inquiry letter to a popular gaming provider focused on the potential sale and targeted advertising use of children’s personal data.  Testing of the provider’s iOS and Android apps purportedly revealed the use of advertising SDKs commonly associated with targeted advertising.  In a subsequent report, the AG stated:

      “Companies may not willfully blind themselves to users’ age and must adjust their tracking technologies to account for the heightened protections afforded to minors under the CTDPA.”

      Connecticut has also joined several other states in sending a joint letter to gaming studios and their subsidiaries, identifying alleged deficiencies in privacy disclosures and consent processes related to minors’ data.  Separately, the Connecticut AG is investigating a digital advertising data broker that offers SDKs to app developers—including apps directed at minors—for potential violations of both the CTDPA and the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA).

      1. AI Chatbots

      Perhaps most notable is the Connecticut AG’s ongoing investigation into a technology company that provides a chatbot platform for alleged harm to minors due to certain design features. Connecticut also recently joined a coalition of 42 Attorneys General in sending letters to major artificial intelligence companies demanding more quality control and other safeguards over chatbot products. Existing federal and state privacy, data breach, and unfair and deceptive acts laws apply in this space, and Connecticut has made clear it will use them.

      New Rules for Minors’ Data in 2026

      Connecticut’s legislature has significantly strengthened the CTDPA’s protections for minors, with key amendments set to take effect in July 2026.  Key changes include:

      • A ban on targeted advertising and the sale of minors’ personal data. Consent will no longer be a permissible workaround.
      • A prohibition on “addictive design features.”  Controllers may not use design features intended to significantly increase, sustain, or extend a minor’s use of an online service.
      • Strict limits on precise geolocation data.  Collection will be permitted only when strictly necessary to provide the relevant service.
      • Mandatory minors-specific privacy impact assessments.  These must be completed before engaging in high-risk processing, not after.
      • Expanded definitions of covered harms.  The law now expressly includes physical violence, material harassment, and sexual abuse or exploitation.

      Additional amendments taking effect in July 2026 include lowered applicability thresholds, so that all sensitive data processing and all sales of personal data will be covered. The definition of “sensitive data” has been expanded to include disability or treatment information, non-binary or transgender status, certain financial and government identifier information, and “neural” data. Companies will be required to disclose in their privacy notices whether they collect, use, or sell personal data for the purpose of training large language models.  The enforcement report further signals potential future legislative action, including tighter limits on “publicly available” data, a standalone genetic privacy law, AI-specific safeguards for children, and stronger universal opt-out mechanisms.

      Practical Takeaways for Businesses

      In light of Connecticut’s ramped-up enforcement activity and the July 2026 amendments, there is little room to delay.  Companies should consider taking the following steps now:

      • Audit minors’ data flows.  Identify where children’s data is collected, shared, or monetized, and unwind practices that will soon be prohibited. Minors-specific data protection assessments should already be underway.
      • Reassess age detection and verification practices.  The Attorney General has explicitly rejected “willful blindness” to users’ ages. Companies must evaluate whether they have actual or constructive knowledge of minor users and whether their controls align with CTDPA expectations.
      • Scrutinize product design for “addictive” features.  Autoplay, infinite scroll, streaks, and engagement-driven notifications may pose compliance risks under the 2026 amendments.
      • Treat AI and chatbot products as high-risk.  Connecticut has made clear that AI is not a regulatory blind spot. Existing privacy, security, and unfair practices laws will be enforced.
      • Strengthen vendor oversight.  Recent multistate enforcement actions demonstrate rising expectations around third-party risk management, including robust contractual controls, ongoing monitoring, and swift remediation when vendors deviate from agreed practices.

      Connecticut’s February 2026 disclosure of active investigations into messaging apps, gaming platforms, and AI chatbots marks a significant escalation in state-level enforcement focused on children’s privacy.  With new prohibitions on targeted advertising, data sales, addictive design features, and geolocation collection set to take effect in July 2026, businesses have a narrow window to achieve compliance.

      Companies that process personal data of Connecticut residents, particularly children and teens, should act now to assess their compliance posture and address any gaps before the next round of enforcement actions.

      Two customers shopping for the same product on the same website at the same time may see two different prices.  This scenario is a growing reality in today’s data-driven marketplace, and California regulators are paying attention.  On Data Privacy Day 2026, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a new investigative sweep targeting “surveillance pricing”—a practice in which businesses use personal information to set individualized prices for consumers.  For online retailers and service providers, this probe raises important questions about how customer data is collected, used, and disclosed.

      The California Consumer Privacy Act secures several key privacy rights for California consumers, including:

      • The right to know about the personal information a business collects about them and how it is used and shared;
      • The right to delete personal information collected from them (with some exceptions);
      • The right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of their personal information, including via the Global Privacy Control (GPC); and
      • The right to non-discrimination for exercising their CCPA rights.

      Of particular relevance to pricing practices, the CCPA includes a “purpose limitation” that restricts how businesses can use personal information.  Under this principle, businesses are limited in their use of personal information to purposes that are consistent with the reasonable expectations of consumers.  Businesses must disclose in their privacy policies how they collect, use, share, and sell consumers’ personal information, and these policies must include information on consumers’ privacy rights and how to exercise them.

      A Track Record of Active Enforcement Under the CCPA

          This enforcement of CCPA actions is not new to Attorney General Bonta.  He has consistently demonstrated commitment to robust enforcement of California’s privacy law and has targeted a range of data practices.  In July 2025, the Attorney General announced the largest CCPA settlement to date resolving allegations that a company’s use of online tracking technology on its website violated the CCPA.  In 2024, the CCPA investigative sweep focused on compliance by streaming services and connected TVs.  In August 2022, the Attorney General announced a settlement resolving a sweep of companies that were allegedly out of compliance with the user-enabled privacy control (GPC) signal to stop the sale of personal information.  Other sweeps have addressed the location data industry, employee information, opt-out requests on mobile apps, and business loyalty programs.

          What Is Surveillance Pricing?

          In plain terms, “surveillance pricing” is the use of consumers’ personal information to set targeted, individualized prices for products and services.  

          This can result in different consumers being offered different prices for the same product at the same time, often without any disclosure to the consumer.  Unless a business discloses that it uses a consumer’s personal information to set prices, surveillance pricing may be invisible to the consumer.

          What Businesses Are Being Asked to Disclose

          The California AG’s inquiry letters seek detailed information on businesses’ data-driven pricing practices, including:

          • Companies’ use of consumer personal information to set prices;
          • Policies and public disclosures regarding personalized pricing;
          • Any pricing experiments undertaken by companies;
          • Measures companies are taking to comply with algorithmic pricing, competition, and civil rights laws.

          Attorney General Bonta emphasized that practices like surveillance pricing “may undermine consumer trust, unfairly raise prices, and when conducted without proper disclosure or beyond reasonable expectations, may violate California law.”  Similar enforcement has been implemented by the Federal Trade Commission and New York.  

          Although the current sweep is centered on surveillance pricing in retail, grocery, and hospitality, the California AG’s public statements make clear that enforcement is driven by the nature of the data use, not the sector.  The CCPA’s purpose-limitation and reasonable-expectations principles have been construed to apply broadly, and other uses of personal information that significantly influence economic terms for consumers could come under scrutiny.

          Legal Risks Under the CCPA Key Considerations for Businesses

          Businesses that may use data to set individualized prices, directly or indirectly, should consider the following:

          • Review data use practices: Assess whether consumer personal information is used for pricing decisions and whether such use is disclosed in a manner consistent with CCPA requirements.
          • Update privacy disclosures: Ensure privacy policies accurately reflect pricing practices and purposes for data collection.
          • Assess reasonable expectations: Consider whether targeted pricing strategies align with what consumers would reasonably expect based on the business’s relationship with them.
          • Prepare for enforcement: If contacted by the California AG’s office, respond promptly and ensure records, data mapping, and compliance documentation are up to date.

          The California AG’s surveillance pricing probe marks a significant development in privacy enforcement.  Privacy enforcement is no longer just about data collection and sharing; it is now about how businesses use consumer data to influence prices.  As Attorney General Bonta stated, “Consumers have the right to understand how their personal information is being used, including whether companies are using their data to set the prices that Californians pay.”  Businesses would be well advised to review their data practices now and ensure that privacy disclosures and pricing strategies are aligned with California’s evolving regulatory expectations.