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CISSP 4.3 - State Privacy Laws
This episode of the ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) exam prep series looks at how individual states shape privacy law, part of Domain 1. It explains why states so often lead the way ahead of federal rules, what the landmark state privacy law grants consumers, and how the resulting patchwork keeps spreading across the country.
What this episode covers
- States as laboratories — states often move first when national privacy law is slow to arrive.
- Rules that ripple outward — state templates spread to other states and inform federal lawmakers, as with breach notification.
- The right to know — consumers can learn what a business collects about them and how it is used and shared.
- Deletion and opt-out — a right to be forgotten in certain cases, plus the ability to stop the sale of personal data.
- No retaliation — protection from discrimination for exercising any of these rights.
- A growing patchwork — the pioneering state strengthened its rules, and other states keep following.
Watch the full episode above for the worked examples and detailed explanations of each concept.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do state privacy laws matter to a security professional?
Because your organization is bound by the laws of every place it does business, not just its home base. For a subscription service with customers spread across many states, a single new state law can force a change to how the whole product handles personal data — and missing that change is how compliance gaps quietly open.
Why do states matter alongside federal and international rules?
Because states often move first. When a national privacy law is slow to arrive, individual states step in and write their own, and those state rules can ripple outward, becoming the template that other states copy and that federal lawmakers eventually study. The same dynamic played out with breach notification, where one state set the pattern the rest followed.
What rights does the landmark state privacy law grant?
A sweeping set of consumer protections, modeled closely on the broad European approach. Consumers gain the right to know what information a business collects about them and how it is used and shared, a right to be forgotten letting them ask that their personal data be deleted in certain cases, and the ability to opt out of having their personal information sold. They are also protected from discrimination or retaliation for exercising any of these rights.
Where is the state privacy trend heading?
Toward more of the same, in more places. The pioneering state did not stop at one law — it extended and strengthened its original rules, and other states have passed comparable privacy laws of their own. The result is a growing patchwork that any national business must track state by state.
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Reference: This article is based on concepts discussed in CISSP 4.3 - State Privacy Laws.