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Gretchen A. Ramos is Global Co-Chair of the Data, Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice. Gretchen is a creative problem-solver that various large tech clients rely on to handle their most challenging data protection issues. Clients appreciate not only her legal skills, but also her direct, no-nonsense approach in providing advice. She works closely with her clients to manage data and leverage its value in ways to meet compliance obligations, as well as deliver value to the business and instill consumer trust.

On Jan. 27, 2023, the California Attorney General announced his office is investigating and sending letters to businesses in the retail, travel, and food industries with popular mobile apps that allegedly are not in compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) by failing to offer a consumer opt-out mechanism for sales, or honor rights

  1. An Increase in Extortion-Only Cyber Attacks – While ransomware attacks have been on the rise since 2020, a recent trend has emerged where threat actors are bypassing ransomware malware and encryption tactics and going straight to data theft. If a victim company does not pay the extortion demand, the threat actors engage in increasingly aggressive

After an extended sunset period, time to replace the “old” SCCs runs out on Dec. 27, 2022. After that date, the old SCCs will no longer legalize data transfers to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA). To avoid compliance risks associated with illegal transfers of personal data, any old SCCs should be updated to

As more children spend their time online exploring and learning, government bodies in the United States and internationally have enacted policies to ensure safer spaces, privacy, security, and protection for children online. The California Senate Judiciary Committee recently voted to advance two California bills to protect children’s online activities.

Closely modeled after the UK’s Children’s

On July 8, 2022, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued proposed amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) regulations to harmonize them with the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA), which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023. Individuals or companies have until Aug. 23, 2022, at 5 p.m. to submit

On April 29, 2022, China’s National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee (commonly referred to as “TC260”) released a draft Technical Guideline on Personal Information Cross-Border Transfer Certifications (Cert Guideline). While the Cert Guideline is still in draft form and thus subject to change, it provides some clarification regarding the certification process for cross-border transfers of

In most contexts, employees should have a low expectation of privacy in the workplace. Their computers, desks, and other common areas may be subject to strict company control and their conduct subject to workplace policies. But as we will discuss in an upcoming two-part series on The Performance Review (Greenberg Traurig’s California Labor and Employment

On 04 June 2021, the EU Commission adopted two new sets of standard contractual clauses (SCC): one set for the transfer of personal data from the EU to third countries (Cross-Border SCC) and another set addressing certain clauses in controller-processor data processing agreements (DPA-SCC). The adoption was made some seven months after initial drafts

New regulations to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) took effect in March that prohibit businesses from using on their websites “dark patterns” that make it difficult for California consumers to opt out of the sale of their personal information.

A dark pattern is a potentially manipulative user interface design that can have the effect,

On March 2, 2021, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA) into law, making Virginia the second state to have comprehensive data privacy legislation on the books. The CDPA is similar to the privacy regime enacted under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and expanded under the California Privacy Rights