Your rights
Your privacy is protected by law.
Technology changes quickly. Your rights do not disappear simply because the technology used to collect information is difficult to see or understand.
Federal and state laws can restrict the interception, collection, disclosure, sale, and use of personal information. Different protections apply depending on what information is involved, how it was obtained, where you live, and what a company told you it would do.
There is no single American privacy law. Instead, your rights come from a growing collection of federal and state statutes, consumer-protection laws, and longstanding legal principles. Depending on your circumstances, some or all of the following may apply to you.
What the law may give you
You may have a right to know.
Companies may be required to disclose what information they collect, why they collect it, and the parties with whom they share it.
What is collected · Why · Recipients
You may have a right to say no.
Some laws give consumers rights to opt out of certain sales, sharing, targeted advertising, profiling, or other uses of personal information.
Sale · Sharing · Targeted ads · Profiling
Your communications may be protected.
Federal and state laws can restrict the interception or disclosure of communications, including in circumstances involving modern online tracking technologies.
Interception · Disclosure · Online tracking
Sensitive information may receive additional protection.
Health information, biometric information, precise location, communications, and other particularly revealing information may be subject to additional legal protections.
Health · Biometrics · Precise location
Companies may have duties to protect your information.
When companies collect and maintain personal information, the law may impose obligations concerning how that information is secured and what happens following unauthorized access.
Security · Breach response
You may have the right to hold a company accountable.
Some privacy laws permit individuals to bring claims when their rights are violated. Others are enforced primarily by government agencies. What remedies exist depends heavily on the particular law and circumstances.
Private claims · Agency enforcement · Remedies
The law
Privacy law is evolving.
Courts are applying laws written in an earlier technological era to technologies their authors could scarcely have imagined. At the same time, legislatures across the country are creating new rights designed specifically for the digital age.
Privacy Rights Law works at that intersection.