| California Enacts New Consumer Privacy LawOn June 28, California Governor Jerry Brown Jr. signed into law the “California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018” which will take effect on January 1, 2020. The law went from introduction to passing in a matter of days. The measure was hurried through the legislature in response to the California Privacy Ballot initiative which was due to be certified on July 1. The initiative would have been extremely restrictive, requiring the Internet to operate differently in California than in the rest of the world. Upon passage of the law, Alistair Mactaggart, the driving force behind the initiative, agreed to withdraw it from the November ballot.
While not as onerous as the ballot initiative, the new law is still very restrictive. The good news is that even many of the bill’s supporters recognize that there are flaws in the law which will need to be amended before taking effect in 2020. This will give the advertising industry the opportunity to work with legislators and activists to try to craft a measure that will address lawmakers’ privacy concerns and still allow companies reasonable use of data to conduct business to the benefit of both them and consumers. A measure enacted by ballot initiative cannot be amended by the legislature.
A comprehensive summary of the new law, prepared by our friends at Venable LLP, is provided here. |
