California Passes Hard-Hitting Data Privacy Law

The state of California has passed one of the toughest data privacy laws in the country. The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 was installed instead of a ballot measure, that would have imposed even tighter restrictions.

The law will come into effect at the start of 2020.

Major companies will be required to disclose what type of data they collect from their consumers. An option will also have to be offered so consumers can opt out of having their data sold onto third parties.

Amazon and AT&T were among the companies to try and stop such regulations being put in place, but the bill passed both chambers unanimously.

The privately-funded ballot initiative was attempting to impose even tougher regulations. For example, it would’ve required companies to reveal the identity of the third-party that received consumers information, whereas the new law only requires the category of the company.

Alaistair MacTaggart, who largely funded the ballot, was happy enough to see the legislation be passed in the place of his campaign.

He told The Verge: “This is a monumental achievement for consumers, with California leading the way in creating unprecedented consumer protections for the rest of the nation.”

The Californian law is similar to the GDPR, recently passed in Europe. The GDPR allows all individuals within the European Union to have privacy and protection for all of their online data.

It is important that the privacy laws have been passed as a legislation, as it allows lawmakers to easily amend them where they see fit.

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