Your Data is Shared and Sold

Further look at personal data and its use and regulations.

Your Data Is Shared and Sold…What’s Being Done About It?
Oct 28, 2019 Europe, North America

Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the most sweeping state data privacy regulations in the country. The law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, regulates how data is collected, managed, shared and sold by companies and entities doing business with or compiling information about California residents. Some observers contend that because no business would want to exclude selling to Californians, the CCPA is de facto a national law on data privacy, absent an overarching federal regulation protecting consumer information.

“The new privacy law is a big win for data privacy,” says Joseph Turow, a privacy scholar and professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. “Though it could be even stronger, the California law is stronger than anything that exists at the federal level.” Among other stipulations, the CCPA requires businesses to inform consumers regarding the types of personal data they’ll collect at the time they collect it and also how the information will be used. Consumers have the right to ask firms to disclose with whom they share the data and also opt out of their data being sold.

The CCPA comes on the heels of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which took effect in May 2018. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 107 countries have data privacy rules in place including 66 developing nations. In the U.S., there was a “significant” increase in data privacy bills being introduced this year, with at least 25 states and Puerto Rico starting such legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Notably, this bill count doesn’t include related legislation on topics such as cybersecurity.  .... "