Data Privacy: Insights from Current Legislation and Survey Responses.

Jayda Guidry*, Jeremy Cook and Jena Martin. College of Law, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Field (Broad Category): Law & Legal Studies (Oral-Human Engagement) 

Student’s Major: Economics 

Individuals are relying more heavily than ever on technology and applications to increase the efficiency of day-to-day tasks. With this growing reliance, however, comes concerns regarding how these technology-based services and products protect, use and store consumer data. This growing concern has prompted counteractive legislation in both the European Union and United States, namely through the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act. However, the U.S. still lacks comprehensive regulation for the protection of personal data. What would comprehensive data privacy legislation entail? In this presentation, I will examine current data privacy legislation present in the U.S. and discuss factors that should be considered by lawmakers, particularly those of West Virginia, when constructing future legislation. These factors have been determined both qualitatively and quantitatively through a combination of desk-based research and information derived from focus group surveys in order to serve as prospective considerations for lawmakers. (my abstract has nothing else to be added to) 

Funding: 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course