Setting the Stage: Virginia Leads in Consumer Privacy Laws

Miriam Wugmeister and Cynthia Rich authored an article for CPO Magazine covering Virginia’s recently enacted Consumer Protection Act, a new state legislative approach to protecting consumers’ privacy rights that offers a promising model for other states to follow and may help make a federal consumer privacy law a reality in the United States.

“Rather than adopt the CCPA’s [California Consumer Privacy Act] narrow focus on the buying, receiving, selling, or sharing of consumers’ personal information, the Virginia law covers all processing of consumers’ personal information and is much more akin to the types of protections found in data protection laws around the world,” the authors wrote. “The Virginia law provides for more comprehensive consumer rights and protections. Furthermore, the law is written in a clear, succinct, and easier to understand manner with less prescriptive definitions and provisions.”

Read the full article.