As we celebrate Data Privacy Day 2025, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to privacy professionals worldwide for their dedication and resilience. This year promises to be another dynamic one, with new regulations, rapid technological advancements and vigilant regulators.
Get Ready for an Exciting Year Ahead
In 2025, data protection related to AI will continue to grow more evident across the privacy landscape. Efforts will intensify around certification, due diligence and terms of use for AI tools, especially with the emergence of AI agents, influx of U.S. state laws and implementation of the E.U.’s AI Act underway. The emphasis on AI contract provisions makes AI procurement processes an important focus.
We must also keep an eye on new laws and regulatory guidance. Five state comprehensive privacy laws took effect this month, with others to follow later this year. The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) and state AG offices are ramping up inquires and enforcement actions. We offered guidance on complying with the patchwork of state laws, handling regulators’ inquiries and preparing for 2025.
Other key privacy developments and practices to focus on in 2025 include the following:
- The FTC’s focus on children’s privacy, with a recent update to its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule, which we will cover this week in our “Children’s Privacy Grows Up” series, and its crackdown on sensitive location data.
- Consumer health data privacy laws, as New York shows, are on the agenda and Washington’s My Health My Data Act is in effect, portending enforcement in 2025.
- Regulators’ scrutiny of data brokers, with new CPPA proposed regulations that broaden the universe of what entities constitute a data broker, and two settled actions. Global privacy controls, clean rooms and profiling opt-outs will be other adtech and data broker issues in 2025.
- Litigation on website data collection practices, with novel legal theories under state laws continuing to be tested. Our guest article on strategies for defeating pen register lawsuits is a good starting point.
We are committed to providing expert analysis, actionable recommendations, and insights on developments known and the surprises ahead. Please continue sharing your tips, coverage suggestions, feedback and guest article proposals with us.
Happy Data Privacy Day!
Jill Abitbol, Editor-in-Chief
Matt Fleischer-Black, Senior Reporter