Strengthen California’s Next Consumer Data Privacy Initiative

EFF and a coalition of privacy advocates recently asked the sponsor of a new California ballot initiative to strengthen its provisions on consumer data privacy.

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) created new ways for the state’s residents to protect themselves from corporations that invade their privacy by harvesting and monetizing their personal information. Specifically, the CCPA gives each Californian the right to know exactly what pieces of personal information a company has collected about them; the right to delete that information; and the right to opt-out of the sale of that information. The CCPA is a good start, but we want more privacy protection.

In 2018, the sponsor of an initiative on consumer data privacy, Alastair Mactaggart, obtained enough petition signatures to place the initiative on the ballot. He agreed to remove the initiative from the ballot in exchange for the legislature’s enactment of the CCPA.

Mr. Mactaggart recently published the draft of a new initiative, called the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act (CPREA). The CPREA would make changes to the CCPA. Now stakeholders have an opportunity to request changes to the draft. The sponsor, in turn, has an opportunity to make changes before the initiative is finalized. Then the sponsor may seek the ballot signatures needed to qualify the initiative for next year’s ballot.

EFF and ten other privacy advocacy organizations recently sent the sponsor a letter proposing ways to strengthen the draft CPREA. Our partners in this letter are the ACLU of California, CALPIRG, the Center for Digital Democracy, Common Sense Media, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, Media Alliance, Oakland Privacy, and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

Read the letter here.