Several giant tech companies are urging for the amendment of new privacy law in the state of California. The law, if enacted, will strengthen the authority of consumers on what information is collected from them and how this personal information is used by tech companies.
To be implemented beginning January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), AB 375 of 2018 will require all for-profit businesses to disclose to consumers the specific pieces of personal information collected from them and where this information is collected from. The law will also allow consumers to require companies to delete personal information and not sell it. If companies refuse or fail to comply, consumers can pursue legal action against the companies.
With a few more months before the CCPA is implemented, several tech companies including Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Uber, and Lyft have joined forces to introduce several amendments to the law.
These companies say that such amendments will make the law a bit fairer to their businesses. Most, if not all of these companies, are members of the Internet Association which also oppose the CCPA due to the fact that they currently enjoy revenue streams derived from user data they collected from consumers.
Kevin McKinley, internet association director for California Government Affairs told Yahoo Finance that the CCPA has many flaws that have led to the abbreviated legislative process last year.
He said the internet companies already support an economy-wide, federal privacy law that provides meaningful transparency and full control to all Americans over how the data they provide to companies is collected, shared, and protected.
Additionally, McKinley reiterated the fact his group doesn’t object to the implementation of the law itself. However, the CCPA still needs to be amended to make businesses comply properly.
According to McKinley, the California legislature failed to make it a bit fairer to businesses because its approval was rushed during the end of the legislative session last year. There are still at least eight proposed amendments to the CCPA that remains to be considered by the California legislature.
