A wide variety of state, national, and international laws and regulations apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer and other processing of personal data and other information. Evolving and changing definitions of personal data and personal information within the U.S., the European Union ("EU"), and elsewhere, especially relating to classification of IP addresses, machine identification, location data and other information, may limit or inhibit our ability to operate or expand our business. For example, it may be more difficult for us to share data with commercial partners, conduct research, or market to customers. Heightened compliance requirements may lead to increased administrative expenses. Data protection and privacy-related laws and regulations are evolving and may result in ever-increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions.
Further, in June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, commonly referred to as "Brexit," and on January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom ceased to be an EU Member State. The UK Data Protection Act that substantially implements the GDPR became law in May 2018 and was further amended to more closely align to GDPR post-Brexit. Beginning on October 12, 2023, UK personal data may be transferred to the U.S. pursuant to organizations certified to the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. It remains unclear, however, how United Kingdom data protection laws or regulations will develop in the medium to longer term and how data transfers to and from the United Kingdom will be regulated. In addition, some countries are considering or have enacted legislation requiring local storage and processing of data that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services or performing research related to our technology.
In the U.S., there are numerous states that have now enacted privacy laws that regulate the processing of personal data. In 2018, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act, which was amended in 2020 by the California Privacy Rights Act ("CPRA"), legislation that, among other things, requires covered companies to provide numerous disclosures to California consumers and affords such consumers new abilities to opt-out of certain sales and sharing of personal information. Aspects of the CPRA and its interpretation remain unclear at this time. In addition, the following states have enacted their own similar privacy legislation, which privacy legislation has now gone into effect: Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia. Further, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas have enacted legislation which will go into effect in 2024-2026, and privacy bills have been introduced in Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine. We cannot fully predict the impact of these numerous state laws on our business or operations, but the laws may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply.
Even the perception of privacy, data protection or information security concerns, whether or not valid, may harm our reputation, inhibit adoption of our products by current and future customers, or adversely impact our ability to hire and retain workforce talent. Our actual or perceived failure to adequately comply with applicable laws and regulations, or to protect personal data and other data we process or maintain, could result in regulatory investigations and enforcement actions against us, fines, penalties and other liabilities, imprisonment of company officials and public censure, claims for damages by customers and other affected individuals, required efforts to mitigate or otherwise respond to incidents, litigation, damage to our reputation and loss of goodwill (both in relation to existing customers and prospective customers), any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operations, financial performance and business.