On August 13, two California contact tracing bills, AB-660 and AB-1782, were approved by the California Senate Judiciary Committee. These bills would affect how public agencies can collect, store and disclose personal information that is used to facilitate COVID-19 contact tracing.
- If enacted, AB-660 would prohibit any use or disclosure of data collected for purposes of contact tracing other than further contact tracing efforts.
- If enacted, AB-1782 would require businesses using or providing contact tracing technologies to provide individuals with the right to consent, access, correct, and delete personal information about them, and to carry out other measures regarding use, security. and maintenance of the data.
Continue Reading California Contact Tracing Bills Approved by State Judiciary Committee
Latin American privacy laws may pose special challenges for businesses considering when and how to reopen their facilities during the coronavirus pandemic. As elsewhere, many companies operating in Latin America may decide to screen employees for their COVID-19 risk-levels before allowing them to enter a shared workspace. Already in place in many European and Asian countries, screening options primarily involve contact tracing or temperature checks. As they focus on health and safety, however, companies should also bear in mind a potentially competing interest: protecting employees’ privacy.
In addition to the adoption by the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) of Guidelines on the use of location data and contact tracing tools in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, various other European guidance regarding the use of data and technology in connection with COVID-19 has also been published.
On April 21, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) released 
This article appeared in Law360 on May 14, 2020. A group of Republican senators have introduced a new privacy bill that would impose strict privacy obligations on contact tracing apps operated by entities not subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.