Virginia Code 59.1-578: (Effective January 1, 2023) Data controller responsibilities; transparency
A. A controller shall:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 59.1-578
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Authenticate: means verifying through reasonable means that the consumer, entitled to exercise his consumer rights in § 59. See Virginia Code 59.1-575
- Child: means any natural person younger than 13 years of age. See Virginia Code 59.1-575
- Consent: means a clear affirmative act signifying a consumer's freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous agreement to process personal data relating to the consumer. See Virginia Code 59.1-575
- Consumer: means a natural person who is a resident of the Commonwealth acting only in an individual or household context. See Virginia Code 59.1-575
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Controller: means the natural or legal person that, alone or jointly with others, determines the purpose and means of processing personal data. See Virginia Code 59.1-575
- Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
- Personal data: means any information that is linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable natural person. See Virginia Code 59.1-575
- Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
- processing: means any operation or set of operations performed, whether by manual or automated means, on personal data or on sets of personal data, such as the collection, use, storage, disclosure, analysis, deletion, or modification of personal data. See Virginia Code 59.1-575
- Sensitive data: means a category of personal data that includes:
1. See Virginia Code 59.1-575
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Targeted advertising: means displaying advertisements to a consumer where the advertisement is selected based on personal data obtained from that consumer's activities over time and across nonaffiliated websites or online applications to predict such consumer's preferences or interests. See Virginia Code 59.1-575
1. Limit the collection of personal data to what is adequate, relevant, and reasonably necessary in relation to the purposes for which such data is processed, as disclosed to the consumer;
2. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, not process personal data for purposes that are neither reasonably necessary to nor compatible with the disclosed purposes for which such personal data is processed, as disclosed to the consumer, unless the controller obtains the consumer’s consent;
3. Establish, implement, and maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical data security practices to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of personal data. Such data security practices shall be appropriate to the volume and nature of the personal data at issue;
4. Not process personal data in violation of state and federal laws that prohibit unlawful discrimination against consumers. A controller shall not discriminate against a consumer for exercising any of the consumer rights contained in this chapter, including denying goods or services, charging different prices or rates for goods or services, or providing a different level of quality of goods and services to the consumer. However, nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to require a controller to provide a product or service that requires the personal data of a consumer that the controller does not collect or maintain or to prohibit a controller from offering a different price, rate, level, quality, or selection of goods or services to a consumer, including offering goods or services for no fee, if the consumer has exercised his right to opt out pursuant to § 59.1-577 or the offer is related to a consumer’s voluntary participation in a bona fide loyalty, rewards, premium features, discounts, or club card program; and
5. Not process sensitive data concerning a consumer without obtaining the consumer’s consent, or, in the case of the processing of sensitive data concerning a known child, without processing such data in accordance with the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (15 U.S.C. § 6501 et seq.).
B. Any provision of a contract or agreement of any kind that purports to waive or limit in any way consumer rights pursuant to § 59.1-577 shall be deemed contrary to public policy and shall be void and unenforceable.
C. Controllers shall provide consumers with a reasonably accessible, clear, and meaningful privacy notice that includes:
1. The categories of personal data processed by the controller;
2. The purpose for processing personal data;
3. How consumers may exercise their consumer rights pursuant § 59.1-577, including how a consumer may appeal a controller’s decision with regard to the consumer’s request;
4. The categories of personal data that the controller shares with third parties, if any; and
5. The categories of third parties, if any, with whom the controller shares personal data.
D. If a controller sells personal data to third parties or processes personal data for targeted advertising, the controller shall clearly and conspicuously disclose such processing, as well as the manner in which a consumer may exercise the right to opt out of such processing.
E. A controller shall establish, and shall describe in a privacy notice, one or more secure and reliable means for consumers to submit a request to exercise their consumer rights under this chapter. Such means shall take into account the ways in which consumers normally interact with the controller, the need for secure and reliable communication of such requests, and the ability of the controller to authenticate the identity of the consumer making the request. Controllers shall not require a consumer to create a new account in order to exercise consumer rights pursuant to § 59.1-577 but may require a consumer to use an existing account.