California Voters Pass Strongest Privacy Law in the U.S. – The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)

• Approximately 56 percent of California voters passed The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). The law will be the toughest privacy law in the U.S. once it goes into effect in 2023.
• California residents will have more control over what happens to their personal information when businesses collect it. Consumers from the state can also have information corrected they think is inaccurate.
• California businesses will be required to update agreements with contractors and sub-contractors that binds them to meet the provisions of the CPRA.
• For more information on the privacy law, contact the ITRC at no-cost by calling 888.400.5530 or by live-chat on the company website.

California voters went to the polls to decide the fate of the strongest privacy law in the United States. After counting the ballots, Proposition 24 – The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) – passed and will go into effect in 2023.

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How The California Privacy Rights Act Passed

Approximately 56 percent of California voters approved the privacy law. However, Big Tech and Big Privacy joined forces to oppose the proposal. The initiative was proposed to strengthen the existing state privacy law, The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), in many different ways.

What Consumers Need to Know About The California Privacy Rights Act

There are a few different things for California residents to know about the CPRA:

1. Since voters approved the CPRA and not the state legislature, it will be more difficult to amend the law in the future. The legislature must submit any proposed changes to the popularly approved law to the voters in a future election. That makes it very difficult to weaken the privacy provisions in the CPRA.
2. The CPRA gives California residents even more control over what happens to their personal information when a business collects it. The CCPA gives residents the right to access the information companies collect about them and request it be deleted in certain circumstances. It also prohibits the sale of their information for marketing purposes. The CPRA will give consumers rights linked to sharing information – not just selling data to third parties – clarifying one of the most confusing parts of the current privacy law, the CCPA.
3. The CPRA adds a right to correct any information that a consumer thinks is inaccurate. Californians will now have the right to opt-out of automated decision processes that use their personal information. Also, they will have the right to see how automated decision processes work.
4. The CPRA creates a new category of personal information that California residents can access and control in certain circumstances, like sharing information with third parties. The new category is known as “sensitive personal information” and includes precise geolocation data, race, religion, sexual orientation, Social Security numbers and certain health information.
5. Finally, the new privacy law gives consumers the right of data portability, which means someone can tell a company to share their information with another company. It is like when someone changes their mobile phone or insurance companies.

What Businesses Need to Know About The California Privacy Rights Act

Businesses will also have a host of new duties that apply to them:

1. Companies will have to create data silos, meaning they will have to keep personal information used in marketing separate from other consumer information. Companies, especially smaller ones, are already struggling to meet the existing consumer rights of access, review, deletion and opt-out. The new provision could compound the compliance issues.
2. The most significant change for businesses will be the requirement that companies update agreements with contractors and sub-contractors that bind them to meet the provisions of the CPRA. In past podcast episodes, the ITRC has talked about data breaches resulting from “supply chain attacks.” That is where a company has good cybersecurity. Still, a third-party vendor ends up breached, and the company’s customer data is exposed. The requirement to update agreements with contractors and sub-contractors is designed to address supply chain attacks and clarify that everyone in the supply chain is responsible for protecting consumer information.
3. Businesses do get some benefits in the CPRA. Employee and B2B data are exempt from the law until at least 2023, and businesses may be charged fees if consumers opt-out of data collection and sharing. That provision is the reason privacy advocates joined Big Tech companies to oppose the CPRA.

Toughest Privacy Law in the United States

The CPRA will be the toughest privacy law in the U.S. when it goes into full effect in 2023. In the meantime, state officials will propose the regulations needed to implement the new law. In the case of the CPRA, there will also be a new state agency created to enforce the new privacy law. For now, the California Attorney General will continue to enforce the existing law, CCPA.

Privacy Law Passed in Massachusetts

There was another state privacy law recently approved by a vote in Massachusetts. Car owners now have the right to see the information their car is wirelessly sharing with automakers. Approximately 75 percent of voters approved the proposal; carmakers have until 2022 to comply.

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For information about recent data breaches, consumers and businesses should visit the ITRC’s new data breach tracking tool, notified^TM. It is updated daily and free to consumers. Organizations that need comprehensive breach information for business planning or due diligence can access as many as 90 data points through one of the three paid notified subscriptions. Subscriptions help ensure the ITRC’s identity crime services stay free.  

Contact the ITRC

If you have a question about The California Privacy Rights Act, data privacy, or if you receive a breach notice and you’d like to know how to protect yourself, contact the ITRC. You can speak with an expert advisor toll-free at 888.400.5530 or by live-chat on the company website. Also, download the free ID Theft Help App to access resources, a case log and much more. 

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