Brace Yourselves: More Privacy Legislation Is Here

Consumer privacy continues to be one of the defining topics of our time. Case in point: on November 3, the state of California passed the Consumer Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), also known as Proposition 24. This legislation adds additional protections to landmark legislation that California had already passed, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). It’s important to understand both the CCPA and CPRA. They can affect you because:

• California is one of the largest economies in the world, and chances are you are doing business with a California resident, making California privacy legislation apply to you.

• California is a bellwether state. Privacy laws in California may provide a template for how other states also create laws of their own.

The CCPA, which went into effect in January 2020, regulates how businesses collect, use, and disclose information about California residents. The purpose of the CCPA  was (and is) to bolster the personal privacy of California’s 39 million residents by requiring businesses to follow more stringent privacy requirements. For instance, if a business buys or sells data on at least 50,000 California residents each year, the business must share with those residents it does with the data; and residents can request the business not sell it.

But as our Chief Digital Officer David Corchado wrote, the CCPA is a work in progress, subject to revision. And that’s exactly what has happened with the CPRA. The CPRA is a revision to the CCPA, not a replacement. The CPRA adds more requirements. For instance, the CPRA carries more stringent safeguards to protect minors’ information. The CPRA also establishment of a California Privacy Protection Agency to enforce privacy requirements.

The establishment of an enforcement agency is significant. It means that the state of California now has a mechanism in place to fine businesses for noncompliance. But as David Corchado pointed out earlier in 2020, it’s not always clear what compliance means – and with the passage of CPRA, it’s going to be harder for businesses to stay on top of the constantly changing privacy landscape. Now it’s more likely that businesses will pay fines for noncompliance.

At Investis Digital, we closely follow privacy legislation. We subject ourselves to third-party audits for data privacy and security that go far beyond what you will see from other communications firms. We actively deploy solutions to help our clients maximize engagement with their audience while respecting a newfound demand for privacy.

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If you have questions, For questions, please contact your Investis Digital account manager or reach out today.