Calif. Starts Ball Rolling With Novel Internet Of Things Law

Calif. Starts Ball Rolling With Novel Internet Of Things Law

September 17, 2018, Law360

Lindsey Tonsager is quoted in Law360 regarding California’s newly enacted rules mandating security features for internet-connected devices. Makers of IoT devices will be required under Senate Bill 327 to equip products with "reasonable security features." Ms. Tonsager says, "The 'reasonable security' standard is quite flexible, which is good when operating in a world where both the devices and threats are constantly changing. As with the standards put forth by the FTC, the California legislation recognizes that reasonableness is not going to be the same for every company and it's going to depend on different factors, including the type of the information collected and the functionality of the device." She adds, "It's interesting that at the same time that we're seeing calls for a federal privacy law and a sweeping new blanket privacy law in California, we're also seeing these really tech-specific measures when it comes to the internet of things."