Amended California Privacy Bill Heads to Governor’s Desk
On Friday, August 28, the California Assembly passed SB 690. The bill now awaits Governor Newsom’s signature.
SB 690 looks to clarify the application of privacy laws to modern, standard e-commerce practices. However, the bill heading to Newsom’s desk was heavily scaled back, including the removal of a blanket exemption for retailers using standard website features for “commercial business purposes.”
Overall, the passage of SB 690 is good news. The bill eliminates the “private right of action” for website-based trap-and-trace and pen-register claims. Trial attorneys can no longer sue small businesses over common backend processes like IP address routing and standard cookies. Now, only the California Attorney General can enforce these laws. That said, while SB 690 will stop the trap-and-trace claims, plaintiffs can — and likely will — continue to sue businesses over standard frontend features like chat widgets, Meta Pixels, and session replay analytics under the surviving wiretapping clause.
ABA is in the process of creating a SB 690 Fact Sheet, which it will provide to California booksellers over the course of the next few days. And ABA’s Advocacy Division will continue to work with California lawmakers toward a more thorough privacy solution to protect booksellers from frivolous privacy lawsuits.
ABFE WIll Be in DC in Opposition to Censorship Bills
Representatives of American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), as part of the Right to Read coalition, will be in Washington, DC, to participate in a national day of action and lobbying on Thursday, September 24.
The Day of Action will raise awareness about the three federal bills in the House and Senate that, if passed, would limit access to books by prohibiting the use of federal funds from public schools for teaching about a wide variety of topics. The bills would not even allow certain ideas to exist in library books. Along with ABFE, participants will include national and local non-profit and grassroots organizations and for-profit organizations representing students, authors, parents, librarians, educators, and publishers.
Booksellers in DC can join the coalition for the press conference and/or lobbying meetings. For those who wish to participate remotely in the Day of Action, the coalition will be distributing social graphics and messaging.
Booksellers can sign up now for more information about in-person or remote participation. | 
