ChannelVision Magazine

Cyber Patrol On June 28, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the California Consumer Protection Act of 2018 (AB 375), which is widely regarded as the most far- reaching privacy act in the U.S. to date. AB 375, which will start being enforced in January 2020, gives Californians five new rights: The right to know what personal information is being collected about them; the right to access personal information; the ability to know whether personal information is be- ing sold or disclosed, and to whom; the ability to decline the sale of personal information; and ac- cess to equal service and price, even after exercis- ing privacy rights. As of right now, the law will apply to organizations that conduct business in California, or are controlled by an entity operating in California, that have an annual gross revenue exceeding $25 million. It also will apply to businesses that collect data from 50,000 or more consumers or devices, or generate 50 percent or more of their annual revenue from selling consumer data. Privacy an ‘inalienable’ right While AB 375 may come across as an immediate reaction to GDPR, the wheels for privacy reform have actually been in motion for a long time in California. Section two of AB 375 points back to 1972, when California voters amended the state’s constitution to make privacy an “inalienable” right of all people. That amendment declared that consumers have the right to control the use and sale of their personal information. Since that time, the document explains, California has adopted several initiatives including the Online Privacy Act, the Privacy Rights for Califor- nia Minors in the Digital World Act and the Shine the Light law, which is one of the first major acts to limit how businesses could use consumer data. With AB 375, lawmakers hope to provide an up- dated set of privacy laws to address today’s rapidly changing technology landscape. “California is one of the world’s leaders in the de- velopment of new technologies and related industries,” California Cracks Down on Privacy A bout a month after enforcement began for the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a second major privacy overhaul was announced here in the U.S. Groundbreaking consumer privacy law puts California businesses on notice By Gerald Baldino Channel Vision | July - August, 2018 12