Hello, this is Emlex's weekly podcast covering the top regulatory stories from around the world.

My name is James Panicki, Asia Pacific Senior Editor, and it's great to have your company again this week.

And yes, it has happened. The California Privacy Protection Agency has been established

and is the first standalone privacy enforcer in the US. The governor of the state has appointed

five people to the board, and we'll talk about who those five

people are in just a moment. The new agency is a product of the California Privacy Rights Act, which

was voted in by the state's electorate last November and will come into effect in 2023. The

establishment of the agency is therefore a significant development and not just for California.

The question now is which states are likely to follow California's lead and whether state-based

legislation will prompt federal lawmakers to get involved.

Amy Miller is a senior correspondent for M-Nex covering privacy and data security.

Mike Swift is our chief global digital risk correspondent.

Both of them are based in our San Francisco Bureau, and both of them are on the line right now.

So, Mike, let's start with you.

Just remind us what the California Privacy Protection Agency is and why we should care about it.

So the big news here is that this is the first sole purpose data protection authority in the United States.

So whereas there are something like 28 in Europe and a growing number around the world,

this is really the first creature like that here in the U.S.

And there is the Federal Trade Commission that does protect privacy,

but that's not what the FTC was created to do.

It's a mission they sort of accepted late in life.

And this agency is going to start from scratch to really do that particular job.

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