Penalty Amount
$175,000,000
California Attorney General led a multistate settlement with Equifax for a 2017 data breach that exposed personal information of 147 million consumers due to security failures and delayed disclosure. Equifax must pay $175 million in state penalties, $425 million for consumer restitution, and implement data security enhancements including a comprehensive Information Security Program and credit monitoring for up to ten years.
Equifax must pay $175 million in penalties to states, $425 million into a consumer restitution fund for cash reimbursements and credit monitoring, implement and maintain a comprehensive Information Security Program, reduce storage of Social Security numbers, ban profiting from breach-related data, establish a consumer assistance process for identity theft claims, and employ a Chief Information Security Officer.
Entity
Equifax
Industry
Data BrokerOfficial Press Release
https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-becerra-announces-settlement-against-equifax-providing-600
Equifax Complaint
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Equifax%20Complaint.pdf
Equifax Final approved judgment
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Equifax%20-%20Final%20approved%20%20judgment.pdf
California Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/privacy-enforcement-actions
New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino announced that New Jersey has joined a multi-state investigation into Equifax following a data breach affecting 143 million consumers. The multi-state group sent a letter demanding Equifax disable fee-based credit monitoring services and reimburse consumers for credit freeze fees with other bureaus, citing unfair practices and a months-long delay in breach disclosure.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, joined by attorneys general from seven other states, filed a lawsuit to block the $6.2 billion merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna Inc. The lawsuit alleges the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act by reducing competition in local TV markets, leading to higher prices, less local news, and job losses.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education to block the expansion of IPEDS data collection requiring colleges to submit race-linked student data. The lawsuit argues the demand is arbitrary, capricious, and burdensome, and could enable costly partisan investigations. A multistate coalition co-led the challenge.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of state attorneys general announced they will continue their antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation/Ticketmaster after the U.S. Department of Justice settled the case. The states aim to hold Live Nation accountable for anticompetitive conduct that harms consumers, artists, and venues in the live music industry.
$376K
The California Privacy Protection Agency (CalPrivacy) settled with Ford Motor Company requiring the company to pay a $375,703 fine and change its practices. Ford violated the CCPA by requiring consumers to complete an email verification step before they could opt-out of the sale and sharing of their personal information collected through digital properties and connected vehicle services. In addition to the fine, Ford must provide easy methods to submit opt-out requests with minimal steps, audit its tracking technologies, and ensure compliance with opt-out preference signals including Global Privacy Control.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, co-leading a bipartisan coalition of 21 attorneys general and charitable regulators, sent a letter to GoFundMe demanding the platform remove all plagiarized donation web pages for over 1.4 million charities, disclose information about donations, and ensure pages do not outrank official charity sites in search results. The action follows reports that GoFundMe used charities' information without consent and engaged in deceptive solicitations, violating state charitable solicitation and consumer protection laws.