{"source_url": "https://www.mercurynews.com", "url": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/01/01/what-californians-can-do-about-creepy-data-collection-in-2020/", "title": "What Californians can do about creepy data collection in 2020", "top_image": "https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20160114__p_e53382b8-e9cc-43c5-8136-01c87a0fa1felsoriginalph.jpg?w=480&h=348", "meta_img": "https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20160114__p_e53382b8-e9cc-43c5-8136-01c87a0fa1felsoriginalph.jpg?w=480&h=348", "images": ["https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20160114__p_e53382b8-e9cc-43c5-8136-01c87a0fa1felsoriginalph.jpg?w=480&h=348", "https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/plugins/dfm-trust-indicators/static/images/Trust-Logo-Horizontal.svg", "https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/jetpack/modules/sharedaddy/images/loading.gif"], "movies": [], "text": "Starting New Year\u2019s Day, Californians creeped out by the trove of personal data companies collect on their online shopping, searching and social media habits will get sweeping new privacy rights that will let them opt out of having their information sold or shared and let them demand that it be deleted.\n\n\u201cThis is really a watershed moment for consumers,\u201d said Scott W. Pink, a Menlo Park lawyer who advises companies on cybersecurity and privacy. \u201cIt\u2019s the first law in the United States outside specialized industries like health care that provides consumers some degree of control and access over data collected on them.\u201d\n\nThe California Consumer Privacy Act approved in June 2018 was inspired by public outrage over data breaches at major companies such as Facebook, Yahoo and Equifax that exposed consumers to potential fraud and misuse of their personal information, and by the European Union\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation.\n\nThe new law requires that businesses disclose their data gathering and sharing practices and allows consumers to opt out of it and to demand that businesses delete collected information on them. It prohibits companies from penalizing consumers with higher rates or fewer services for exercising their privacy rights and from selling information about children under age 16 without their explicit consent.\n\nBut questions continue to swirl as companies scramble to comply. The state attorney general is still finalizing proposed regulations intended to guide consumers and businesses in order to meet a July deadline when enforcement is expected to begin.\n\nAnd both consumer and business advocates continue to spar over whether the new privacy provisions go too far or not far enough, with proposed state and federal substitutes in the works.\n\nJessica Melugin, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank in Washington, D.C., said Europe\u2019s privacy regulations, which took effect a month before the Legislature approved California\u2019s law, already are revealing unintended consequences.\n\n\u201cWe have Europe to look to to see how this has gone, and it\u2019s not particularly encouraging,\u201d said Melugin, citing reports that large companies that collect data have increased market share. \u201cThe big players have gotten bigger since that regulation went into effect, simply because the bigger firms can better afford to comply with these regulations. It\u2019s going to do more to solidify the bigger players. You can already see it \u2014 every privacy lawyer and compliance specialist is being gainfully employed.\u201d\n\nAlastair Mactaggart, the San Francisco real estate developer and privacy advocate whose proposed ballot measure spurred the California Legislature to pass the law, is so frustrated over industry lobbying efforts to weaken it that he\u2019s seeking a new measure for the November 2020 ballot.\n\n\u201cSome of the world\u2019s largest companies have actively and explicitly prioritized weakening the CCPA,\u201d Mactaggart said in announcing his new proposed initiative in September.\n\nOthers are urging federal legislation to avoid a patchwork of state data privacy laws. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, introduced an Internet Bill of Rights in 2018 that has drawn bipartisan interest.\n\nConsumers already had some privacy rights under federal and state law before the California Consumer Privacy Act.\n\nThe federal Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 requires parental consent before collecting personal information online from children age 12 and younger and allows them the right to see it and ask that it be deleted. The new California law adds that kids up to age 16 must consent to the sale of their online data.\n\nA state law, the California Online Privacy Protection Act, already required companies to post a privacy policy online explaining what information they gather on consumers, how it might be shared and any process for reviewing it or making changes. The new law requires companies to disclose information collected upon request, free of charge, up to twice in a 12-month period. Companies also must disclose the types of information, what kind of recipients it is shared with, and the business reason for collecting it.\n\nIn preparation for the new law, Facebook, for example, now tells California customers that information it collects may include \u201cinternet or other electronic network activity information, including content you view or engage with,\u201d and \u201cphotos and face imagery that can be used to create face-recognition templates if you or others choose to provide it and you have the setting turned on.\u201d\n\nFacebook, stung by 2018 revelations that millions of its customers had their personal data harvested from their profiles by a British political consulting firm without their consent, now offers Californians a \u201cclick here\u201d link \u201cto exercise your \u2018right to know\u2019 or your \u2018right to request deletion.\u2019 \u201d\n\nThe new law applies to companies operating in California with gross revenues over $25 million that collect personal information from 50,000 or more consumers a year or generate at least half their revenue from selling such information. Critics argue that may include a lot of companies that might not seem like the law\u2019s prime targets, such as a pizzeria or grocery.\n\nThe law leaves it to the attorney general to enforce most provisions, though individual consumers could sue companies for data breaches. Companies could be fined up to $7,500 for each violation.\n\nFollowing the act\u2019s approval in 2018, industry advocates succeeded in defeating bills that would have required consumers to \u201copt in\u201d before companies could use their personal data and would have allowed consumers to sue companies over a broader range of violations.\n\nRelated Articles Q&A: Cindy Cohn, protecting internet freedoms\n\nRing, Amazon sued by man who says hacker bothered his kids\n\nVisa warns credit cards at risk of gas-pump hacks\n\nHomeland Security wants to scan US citizens\u2019 faces, too Mactaggart had said he was inspired to propose the privacy law after a friend who worked at a technology company told him he\u2019d be terrified if he knew how much information was gathered on him. His proposed 2020 initiative would increase penalties for violating children\u2019s privacy. It also would create a new privacy enforcement agency and bolster protections for sensitive financial, health, location and race data.\n\nBut Pink said that while the Legislature made a number of changes to help companies comply with the new law, \u201cit is clear that it intends to keep the main protections in effect\u201d and that the new law \u201cwill impose significant new obligations on companies doing business in California.\u201d", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": ["Cyber Security", "Big Data", "Regional", "Privacy"], "authors": ["John Woolfolk", "John Woolfolk Is A Reporter For The Bay Area News Group", "Based At The Mercury News. A Native Of New Orleans", "He Grew Up Near San Jose. He Is A Graduate Of The Uc Berkeley School Of Journalism", "Has Been A Journalist Since", "Covering Cities", "Counties", "Law Enforcement", "Courts", "Other General News. He Also Has Worked As An Editor Since"], "publish_date": "Wed Jan  1 00:00:00 2020", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "New California law requires businesses to disclose data collection and sharing and gives consumers the right to opt out of it and to have collected data deleted. It also bars selling data on children under age 16 without their consent.", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/32x32-mercury-news-white.png?w=32", "meta_data": {"application-name": "themercurynews", "viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1", "msvalidate.01": "4B535F7EB2971D1FCBA5D1D3E3E292C3", "description": "New California law requires businesses to disclose data collection and sharing and gives consumers the right to opt out of it and to have collected data deleted. It also bars selling data on children under age 16 without their consent.", "generator": "WordPress 5.3.2", "wp-parsely_version": "1.14", "fb": {"pages": 63095136336}, "google-site-verification": "jvnaFa4kq5tUDhFMQZ84bDI74A2qnu0gfhxZjZXlkko", "og": {"type": "article", "title": "What Californians can do about creepy data collection in 2020", "url": "http://www.mercurynews.com/what-californians-can-do-about-creepy-data-collection-in-2020", "description": "New California law requires businesses to disclose data collection and sharing and gives consumers the right to opt out of it and to have collected data deleted.", "site_name": "The Mercury News", "image": {"identifier": "https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20160114__p_e53382b8-e9cc-43c5-8136-01c87a0fa1felsoriginalph.jpg?w=480&h=348", "width": 480, "height": 348}, "locale": "en_US"}, "article": {"published_time": "2020-01-01T15:00:33+00:00", "modified_time": "2020-01-01T16:29:07+00:00"}, "twitter": {"site": "@mercnews", "text": {"title": "What Californians can do about creepy data collection in 2020"}, "image": "https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20160114__p_e53382b8-e9cc-43c5-8136-01c87a0fa1felsoriginalph.jpg?w=640", "card": "summary_large_image"}, "msapplication-TileImage": "https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/32x32-mercury-news-white.png?w=32"}, "canonical_link": "http://www.mercurynews.com/what-californians-can-do-about-creepy-data-collection-in-2020"}