Forty million Californians will soon obtain sweeping digital privacy rights stronger than any seen before in the U.S., posing a significant challenge to Big Tech and the data economy it helped create.
FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2019, file photo California Attorney General Xavier Becerra gestures while speaking at a media conference in San Francisco. Forty million Californians will shortly obtain sweeping digital privacy rights stronger than any seen before in the U.S., posing a significant challenge to Big Tech and the data economy it helped create. “If we do this right in California," says Becerra, the state will "put the capital P back into privacy for all Americans.
The law defines data sales so broadly that it covers almost any information sharing that provides a benefit to business, including data transfers between corporate affiliates and with third party “data brokers” — middlemen who trade in personal information. California's law is the biggest U.S. effort yet to confront “ surveillance capitalism," the business of profiting from the data that most Americans give up — often unknowingly — for access to free and often ad-supported services. The law is for anyone ever weirded out when an ad popped up for the product they were just searching on, or who wondered just how much privacy they were giving up by signing into the briefly popular face-changing tool FaceApp.
A more fundamental issue, though, is that Californians are largely on their own in figuring out how to make use of their new rights. To make the law effective, they'll need to take the initiative to opt out of data sales, request their own information, and file for damages in the case of data breaches.
The law does offer stronger protection for children, for instance by forbidding the sale of data from kids under 16 without consent. “The last thing you want is for any company to think that we’re going to soft on letting you misuse kids’ personal information,” Becerra, the attorney general, said at a press conference in December.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Calif law will force small businesses to rethink staffingA California law that makes it harder for companies to treat workers as independent contractors takes effect next week, forcing small businesses in and outside the state to rethink their staffing. The law puts tough restrictions on who can be independent contractors or freelancers rather than employees
Read more »
Even amid affluence of tech capital, local news strugglesOAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The cities and suburbs on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay are home to 2.7 million people, a world-class University of California campus and bedroom communities for...
Read more »
Even amid affluence of tech capital, local news strugglesOAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The cities and suburbs on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay are home to 2.7 million people, a world-class University of California campus and bedroom communities for...
Read more »
Stock picks from Goldman: Companies to buy for surprise gains in 2020 - Business InsiderAmid widespread optimism about the market in 2020, Goldman highlights stock picks that investors are still vastly underpricing.
Read more »
Calif law will force small businesses to rethink staffingA California law that makes it harder for companies to treat workers as independent contractors takes effect next week, forcing small businesses in and outside the state to rethink their staffing. The law puts tough restrictions on who can be independent contractors or freelancers rather than employees
Read more »