Texas Attorney General Announces New Enforcement Team!

Texas Attorney General announced this week that he established a team that will focus on enforcing Texas privacy laws. According to Ken Paxton’s office, this team will ensure companies respect Texans’ privacy rights and safeguard their personal data. “Any entity abusing or exploiting Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law. Companies that collect and sell data in an unauthorized manner, harm consumers financially, or use artificial intelligence irresponsibly present risks to our citizens that we take very seriously,” Paxton said in a Tuesday statement. Translation for businesses, Texas new data privacy team is coming for you and will focus on enforcing Texas’ privacy protection laws like the Data Privacy and Security Act, which was approved last year. The new law requires all businesses to obtain users’ affirmative consent before processing their sensitive personal data. Sensitive personal data is defined as a consumer's racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, mental or physical health diagnosis, sexuality, citizenship or immigration status, genetic or biometric data, children's data, and precise geolocation data. The TXDPSA provides an "opt-in" regime with respect to the processing of sensitive data where controllers may not process a consumer's sensitive data "without obtaining the consumer's consent."