From today the Californian Consumer Privacy Act becomes enforceable, state-level legislation that obligates companies to alert users of the intent to monetize their data, and give them a simple way of opting out of this.
It governs, and has massive implications for all companies doing business in California. Some of the basic rules include:
- Businesses must share what data they are gathering from their web visitors and state what the aim of gathering said information is
- Any third parties are are shared this date must be revealed
- Businesses must adhere official consumer requests to delete the information that is gathered on them
- There must be an option for consumers to opt out of their data being sold for profit with no impact on the service provided to them.
The legislation allocates California authorities are the power to sanction fines against companies found to be in breach of the new laws.
According to CNET, when it comes to social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others, the CCPA would limit the amount of data they can collect and may provide incentive for them to be more clear on how they use this information.
There has been much confusion among Californian based companies about what they must do to avoid non -compliance with the legislation and the resulting fines for breaches that are discovered. As recently as September 2019 a survey revealed that almost half of the companies questioned were not ready for the introduction of the new laws. PossibleNow Survey Indicates 50% of Companies will not be Ready for CCPA Introduction
Under CCPA the following penalties can be imposed:
- A fine up to $7,500 for each intentional violation and $2,500 for each unintentional violation can be applied
- Business can be ordered to exercise opt-out rights on behalf of California residents
- Businesses that become victims of data theft or other data security breaches can be directed in civil class action lawsuits to pay statutory damages between $100 to $750 per California resident and incident, or actual damages, whichever is greater, and any other relief a court deems proper, subject to an option of the California Attorney General’s Office to prosecute the company instead of allowing civil suits to be brought against it
- Privacy notices must be made available and have different format access clearly listed.
