The California Consumer Privacy Act: Everything you need to know

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) will apply to a wide range of businesses that handle Californians’ PI, obligating such businesses to comply with a host of new requirements governing their collection, use and sharing of PI. (Photo: ALM Archives)

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a comprehensive new consumer protection law set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020. In the wake of the CCPA’s passage, approximately 15 other states introduced their own CCPA-like privacy legislation, and similar proposals are being considered at the federal level. However, so far only Nevada has passed new consumer privacy laws, adding a do-not-sell right to its existing online privacy law, effective Oct. 1, 2019.

Among the many differences between the CCPA and existing U.S. privacy legislation, the definition of personal information (PI) under the new law is very broad and includes data elements not previously considered PI under any U.S. law. In addition, the CCPA introduces new privacy rights for Californians, such as the right to know what PI a business has collected about them, details on how the business uses and discloses the data, and the right to request that the business delete that information.