By Thomas Finney

In the last couple of years, there have been massive data breaches, compromising the data of potentially hundreds of millions of people. Because of these data breaches, legislation with the purpose of prevention has started to be brought to state and federal legislatures. In March of 2021, the Consumer Data Protection Act was passed in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This legislation aims to protect consumers and their private data. One of the measures included in the bill requires express consent for the collection of personal data; meaning that in order to collect any personal information, one would have to get permission from the person whose data is being collected.  

While this bill is focused on businesses that have collected the data of over 25,000 individuals, a bill has been introduced to Congress that will have an effect on smaller collections of data. The collection and subsequent use of personal data is an important component to the business of Realtors®.

To find out more about personal data and how it relates to being a Realtor®, click here for an article by NAR. To find out more about the CDPA click here. For other questions regarding this law or other legal related questions, feel free to contact NVAR’s legal hotline.