The California Office of the Attorney General issued its first opinion interpreting the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) on March 10, 2022, addressing the issue of whether a consumer has a right to know the inferences that a business holds about the consumer. The AG concluded that, unless a statutory exception applies, internally generated inferences that a business holds about the consumer are personal information within the meaning of the CCPA and must be disclosed to the consumer, upon request. The consumer has the right to know about the inferences, regardless of whether the inferences were generated internally by the business or obtained by the business from another source. Further, while the CCPA does not require a business to disclose its trade secrets in response to consumers’ requests for information, the business cannot withhold inferences about the consumer by merely asserting that they constitute a “trade secret.”Continue Reading California AG Interprets “Inferences” Under CCPA

On November 3, 2020, California voters approved California Proposition 24, also known as the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, or CPRA. The CPRA expands protections afforded to personal information, building off of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which took effect in January of this year. While some of the CPRA changes will take effect immediately, most will not become enforceable until July 1, 2023, and apply only to personal information collected after January 1, 2022.

Key Changes to CA Privacy Law

At 54 pages long, the CPRA makes numerous changes to the CCPA, ranging from minor revisions to the introduction of new concepts and the creation of several new consumer rights. Some of the most impactful changes are discussed below. A series of future client alerts will explore the nuances of these changes in greater detail.

Sensitive Personal Data

The CPRA establishes new rules for a category of “sensitive personal information,” which includes, for example, genetic data and religious or philosophical beliefs, and is defined as personal information that reveals:

(1)

  1. a consumer’s social security, driver’s license, state identification card, or passport number;
  2. a consumer’s account log-in, financial account, debit card, or credit card number in combination with any required security or access code, password, or credentials allowing access to an account;
  3. a consumer’s precise geolocation;
  4. a consumer’s racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, or union membership;
  5. the contents of a consumer’s mail, email and text messages, unless the business is the intended recipient of the communication; and
  6. a consumer’s genetic data; and

(2)

  1.  the processing of biometric information for the purpose of uniquely identifying a consumer;
  2.  personal information collected and analyzed concerning a consumer’s health; or
  3.  personal information collected and analyzed concerning a consumer’s sex life or sexual orientation.

This definition is among the most impactful changes in the CPRA, given the breadth of data that it sweeps in, along with the creation of new disclosure and opt-out rights associated with “sensitive personal information.” These changes will likely require covered businesses to dive into their data, map it, and ensure they are compliant.

In addition, the CPRA creates a right for consumers to “limit use and disclosure of sensitive personal information.” Similar to existing CCPA opt-out rights, beginning in 2023, consumers may direct businesses that collect sensitive personal information to limit its use to that “which is necessary to perform the services or provide the goods reasonably expected by an average consumer” or to perform a small subset of specifically identified exempt services. Significantly, exemptions to the opt-out will include short-term, transient advertising, and “performing services on behalf of the business,” but not general advertising and marketing, nor long-term profiling or behavioral marketing technologies.
Continue Reading CCPA 2.0? California Adopts Sweeping New Data Privacy Protections

On August 14, 2020, California Attorney General Becerra announced that the Office of Administrative Law approved final regulations under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The approved regulations, which became effective immediately, guide businesses and consumers on the CCPA.  The final regulations can be found here.

Even before final approval of the regulations, the California Attorney General’s Office announced that it had already begun enforcing the CCPA in California. By July 10, 2020, the Office had issued warning notices to online businesses for failure to comply with the CCPA. The businesses receiving these notices will have 30 days to comply with the CCPA, or they risk a lawsuit being filed against them by the Attorney General’s Office. It is expected that in the future the AG will no longer issue warning letters and proceed with enforcement.Continue Reading California Attorney General Begins Enforcement of CCPA Even Ahead of Regulations’ Approval

On August 14, 2020, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released final implementing regulations for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The CCPA became enforceable on July 1, 2020, and Becerra’s office submitted a final proposed draft of the regulations to the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on June 1, 2020. The Proposed Regulations have gone through several revisions since the publication of the initial draft in October of 2019. The OAL approved the final version along with an updated Addendum to the Final Statement of Reasons. The final implementing regulations take effect immediately. All businesses subject to the CCPA must now comply with both the statute and the regulations.

The final implementing regulations are similar to the draft proposed in June. However, the AG’s office has made several changes it characterizes as “non-substantive” and withdrawn certain proposed provisions “for additional consideration.” The “non-substantive” changes are intended to improve consistency in language (e.g., ensuring “consumer” is used throughout the regulations, or reorganizing definitions in alphabetical order) and are described in detail in the Addendum to the Final Statement of Reasons.Continue Reading California Approves Final CCPA Regulations