It's Here: The California Consumer Privacy Act Officially Starts

The much anticipated California privacy law officially took place on Wednesday, January 1, a year and a half after it was passed and signed. 

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a state-wide law that requires organizations to notify users of the intent to monetize their data and provide them with a direct means to opt-out of said monetization. That goes for social networks, credit agencies and much more. 

The law applies to any company with California based users that meet any one of these requirements: 

- The business has at least $25M in annual gross revenue

- Has personal information on at least 50,000 people, households or devices

- Earns at least half of its money selling California consumers' personal information

If a company meets any of the above requirements, the business is obligated to follow new rules, such as: 

- Businesses must disclose what data is being collected, the business purpose for collecting this data, and any third parties they share the data with. 

- Businesses must comply with official consumer requests to delete said data. 

- Consumers must be allowed to opt-out of their data being sold. 

While organizations have been told they cannot retaliate by adjusting the price or level of service as a result of opting out, businesses can, however, offer "financial incentives" for allowing companies to collect data. 

For a more detailed understanding, you can visit the official website here: California Consumer Privacy Act. 

The law covers residents in the most populous state, but companies like Microsft have already said they'll be extending the practices required under the new law to all customers and users. If the past shows us anything, it's that other states tend to follow California when laws are introduced that are inexistent at a federal level. 

July 1, 2020 is the official deadline for the AG's office to finalize regulations defining exactly what organizations must do in order to stay in compliance with the law. 

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