California Consumer Privacy Act

Subscribe to California Consumer Privacy Act

Keypoint: With the CCPA’s “right to cure” violations expiring at the end of the year, businesses should take note of the AG’s recent enforcement efforts and, to the extent necessary, provide the requisite notice of financial incentive if the business offers discounts, free items, loyalty programs, or other rewards, in exchange for personal information.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta marked Data Privacy Day (January 28) by announcing an “investigative sweep of a number of businesses operating loyalty programs in California” for allegedly failing to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act’s (CCPA) notice of financial incentive requirement. Letters were sent on January 28 “to major corporations in retail, home improvement, travel, and food services industries.” As required under the CCPA, entities that received letters will have thirty days to cure the alleged violation.

The press release did not disclose the number of letters sent or provide details on the specific nature of the alleged violations other than stating this “sweep of notices . . . focuses on businesses that are failing to provide a notice of financial incentive to customers that opt into their loyalty program.”

For businesses that offer loyalty programs or other financial incentives, below is a discussion on the CCPA’s notice of financial incentive requirement, including what the notices must contain and how businesses should relay the notices to California residents.Continue Reading Analyzing the CCPA’s Notice of Financial Incentive Requirement in the Wake of the Attorney General’s Issuance of Violation Notices for Loyalty Programs

CPRA Regulations: California Privacy Protection Agency Commences Preliminary Rulemaking ProcessKeypoint: The California Privacy Protection Agency initiates preliminary rulemaking activities under the California Privacy Rights Act.

On Wednesday, September 22, 2021, the California Privacy Protection Agency (Agency) issued an Invitation for Preliminary Comments on Proposed Rulemaking Under the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.

California voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) in November 2020. The CPRA, which goes into effect on January 1, 2023, significantly revises the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).Continue Reading CPRA Regulations: California Privacy Protection Agency Commences Preliminary Rulemaking Process

Keypoint: A detailed analysis of the Attorney General’s twenty-seven published examples of noncompliance notices sent during the first year of CCPA enforcement reveals key learnings for CCPA compliance efforts.

In July, the California Attorney General published twenty-seven “illustrative examples” of noncompliance notices it sent to businesses during its first year of enforcing the CCPA. The examples provide a rare glimpse into the Attorney General’s enforcement priorities.

The office sent enforcement notices to a wide range of businesses spanning a variety of industries. The alleged violations primarily concerned privacy policy disclosures, consumer requests, and opt-out of sale requirements. Other noncompliance topics included service provider contracts and “just in time” notices.

Below is an analysis of the published enforcement examples. The office emphasizes, however, that the information provided “does not include all the facts of each situation and does not constitute legal advice.”Continue Reading CCPA Update: Analysis and Key Takeaways from AG’s Example Enforcement Cases

Keypoint: Businesses that sell personal information under the CCPA are now required to honor Global Privacy Control signals.

In an update to its CCPA FAQs, the California Attorney General’s office has stated that businesses that sell personal information must honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals.Continue Reading California AG Requires Businesses to Recognize GPC Signals for Requests to Opt Out of Sales

Keypoint: The appointment of the five California Privacy Protection Agency board members is the first significant step to the California Privacy Rights Act becoming fully operative in 2023.

On March 17, California officials announced the establishment of the five-member inaugural board for the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA). The CPPA was established by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which California voters approved in the November election. The CPPA will take over rulemaking duties from the California Attorney General’s office and will administratively enforce the CPRA. Given that California has the world’s fifth largest economy, the CPPA has the potential to be one of the most important data privacy authorities in the world.Continue Reading CPRA Update: Board Appointments Announced for California Privacy Protection Agency

Keypoint: Modifications to the CCPA regulation’s provisions regarding requests to opt-out and authorized agent requests are now final.

On March 15, 2021, the California Attorney General’s office announced that the Office of Administrative Law has approved the Attorney General’s proposed changes to the CCPA regulations. The new regulations make three general changes relating to the right to opt out of sales and one change to authorized agent requests. In addition, the Attorney General’s press release reaffirms that enforcement activities are proceeding.Continue Reading CCPA Update: New Regulations Approved

On January 28, 2021, privacy professionals around the world will celebrate Data Privacy Day. This year, we decided to mark the occasion by gathering our team’s thoughts and expectations on what we expect to be the biggest privacy law stories in 2021 and beyond.

Last year we wrote a similar article, attempting to predict how the privacy landscape would unfold in 2020. We got some things right (e.g., the emergence of CCPA 2.0). But, let’s be honest, in March everything changed, including privacy law. As spring turned into summer our writing focused on the privacy law implications of COVID-19, including contact tracing, no contact temperature taking, and the unanticipated collection of heath information, among other unexpected topics. We also took note of developments overseas, including the Court of Justice of the European Union’s Schrems II decision and the emergence of Brazil’s federal privacy law, LGPD.

If there was one takeaway from 2020 from a privacy law perspective it was this – while it is impossible to predict its path, privacy law is rapidly growing and evolving, almost on a daily basis, and in nearly every corner of the world. With that, we turn to our 2021 predictions.Continue Reading The Year to Come in U.S. Privacy & Cybersecurity Law (2021)

Keypoint: The California Attorney General’s office again introduces an opt-out button.

On December 10, 2020, the California Attorney General’s office published a fourth set of proposed modifications to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) regulations. The deadline to submit comments to the proposed modifications is Monday, December 28, 2020.

The latest set of proposed modifications are revisions to the office’s third set of proposed modifications, published on October 12, 2020. The deadline to submit comments to the third set of modifications passed on October 28, 2020. For a discussion on the third set of modifications, see our prior blog post available here.Continue Reading CCPA Update: AG’s Office Publishes Fourth Set of Proposed Changes to CCPA Regulations

Keypoint: The California Attorney General’s office once again published proposed modifications to its CCPA regulations. The modifications primarily focus on making changes to the provisions dealing with the right to opt out and authorized agent requests.

On October 12, 2020, the California Department of Justice published a third set of proposed modifications to its California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) regulations. The deadline to submit written comments is October 28, 2020.

The proposed modifications were published less than two months after the CCPA regulations went into effect on August 14, 2020. In general, the proposed changes focus on the provisions concerning the notice of the right to opt-out, requests to opt-out, and the use of authorized agents for making requests.

The proposed modifications are as follows:Continue Reading CCPA Update: AG’s Office Publishes Another Set of Proposed Changes to CCPA Regulations

On August 30, 2020, the California legislature passed Assembly Bill 1281, which extends the CCPA’s business-to-business and employee exemptions by one year until January 1, 2022. The bill now moves to the California Governor’s office.
Continue Reading CCPA Update: Legislature Extends Business-to-Business and Employee Exemptions for One Year