You may have recently heard about a new California Privacy Law. Why are laws that protect user’s data and private information important? In this internet and date-fueled age, there has been an increasing number of record-breaking data breaches. For instance, in 2018, Facebook violated 50 million of its users’ accounts. In 2019, the social media company made headlines once more when 540 million user records were discovered on Amazon cloud servers.
Unfortunately, data exploitation is not confined to definite industries. Hackers secured access to sensitive user data of 106 million Capital One customers, across both the United States and Canada. Equifax experienced a violation in which the personal data of 147 million Americans was compromised. The effect these breaches have on customers is astounding and can be very inconvenient or unsettling to them. A current Pew Research Center study found that almost half (49%) of Americans believe that their private data is less safe than it was just five years ago.
California lawyer General Xavier Becerra, published draft instruction for enforcing the state’s landmark privacy constitution.
The outline text of the regulations under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) will undertake a public consultation period, including a number of public hearings, with compliance open until December 6th this year.
The CCPA itself will take effect in California on January 1, with an additional six months’ grace period before enforcement of the rule begins.
“The proposed policies are intended to operationalize the CCPA and offer practical guidance to consumers and commerce subject to the law,” California’s Department of Justice wrote in a press release announcing the news. “The regulations would tackle some of the open issues raised by the CCPA and would be focused on enforcement by the Department of Justice with remedies offered under the law.”
The CCPA was signed into regulation in June 2018 — ensuring safety for a number of US citizens, protecting their information from being collected and sold without their awareness.
The law requires businesses over a definite user and/or revenue threshold to reveal what personal data they collect, the purposes they aim to use the data for, and any third-party it will be shared with, as well as requiring that they offer a discrimination-free opt-out to private data being sold or shared.
Businesses must also obey consumer requests for their data to be deleted.
How this law affects non-California businesses
Even if your profitable business isn’t situated in California, you may still need to comply. Do you make transactions or have clients (or potential clients) in California? If your answer is yes, and you meet one of the following criteria, these CCPA regulations must be conformed to by your company:
- Your yearly gross revenue is $25 million or more.
- Your business deals with the personal information of more than 50,000 people.
- 50% or more of your company’s annual earnings come from selling personal information of consumers.
How businesses will benefit
Customers want to do business with companies that care for their rights to data privacy. As a compliant company, you’ll be able to promote your compliance to the law, which in turn can help enhance customer loyalty and sales.
At Mail Boxes Times, we treat our customer’s privacy with the upmost respect. If you have any questions about how your privacy is handled at our company, please contact us.