Data Protection in America

Data protection in America is gaining momentum fast! In 2022, several states in America have implemented data protection laws to protect people’s privacy and personal data. The purpose of the lens is to enable organisations that process or store personal information in the USA to know how to do so lawfully so that you do not flout any data protection laws that may be in place. If you have a footprint or have customers in the USA, data protection laws may impact your day-to-day operations. Therefore, you must know whether you:

• must register as a data controller in a particular state.
• need any authorisation to process a particular type of personal information, or
• are allowed to transfer personal information out of the USA to other parts of the world.

These questions may expand over time because of the changing data protection landscape in the USA.

What laws apply to your processing?

Amidst the surge of regulatory developments in America are steps to enact a federal data protection law.  America’s president also issued an executive order on the EU-U.S. Data Protection Framework. There are several factors that will influence the data protection landscape in the USA until the end of 2022. Therefore, keeping up to date with the data protection developments in America is so important. That’s why it is important for organisations that have a presence, or customers in America, to understand the data protection laws that apply to them. We monitor data protection developments in America daily. For now, in the absence of a federal data protection law, you need to know which American states have a data protection law in place, and what it says.

Will joining this lens help my organisation comply?

Yes. That’s the short answer.  We understand that you may be working with limited resources and budgets. We want to help you in the most efficient and cost-effective way.  Our data protection in America lens will help you. This lens combined with our practical core programme takes you through the key actions that your organisation must take to process personal data in America lawfully.

You should join this lens if you have a footprint in Africa. This lens is especially useful to anyone who processes personal data in America, or anyone who tranfers personal data to any state in America.

Not everyone in your organisation needs to go through this programme. We believe your core data protection team should join and work through the programme. This core team could include:

• your Data Protection Officer (or Information Officer),
• accounting officers,
• someone from IT,
• legal practitioners (legal and compliance),
• risk managers,
• your project manager,
• other relevant senior managers.

By joining this lens you will gain access to a host of information and resources with all the important data protection developments you need to know about. This lens will help you to:

• Understand how America protects privacy by knowing what laws exist at state, sector and federal levels.
• Learn about the latest data protection developments by getting an overview of the data protection landscape in America.
• Ensure that you can protect personal information in the US by understanding your obligations.

• We believe in using the law as a tool to prevent harm from coming to people.
• We have significant practical experience dealing with data protection law.
• We cover only those areas of data protection law that are most relevant to you, saving you time and money.
• We provide insight and simplify the issues, empowering you to work through the obligations yourself.

You can work through this lens at your own pace and go as fast or slow as you like. Depending on the data protection processes you already have in place, it could take you a few hours or a few weeks to work through this lens.