A Moment Of Privacy - August 2011

Q: Did you know there are breach notification obligations in all 50 states, even though only 46 states have adopted them? How could that be, you ask? Because Texas said so. (Does that surprise you?)

A: Texas recently amended its breach notification law so that its consumer notification obligations apply not only to residents of Texas, but to any individual whose sensitive personal information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by an unauthorized person. Texas's amended law (H.B. 300) specifically requires notification of data breaches to residents of states that have not enacted their own law requiring such notification (that is, Alabama, Kentucky, New Mexico and South Dakota).