The new California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which becomes law on January 1st is expected to result in a large number of “Do not sell my info” links on websites.
As we’ve seen over the years, laws passed by the California legislature has proven to become national law almost by default. Vehicle emissions and gas mileage laws come to mind.
As the CCPA is about to become law, other states are sure to use the new law as a guideline for their own privacy laws. Reuters reports on how companies are working to comply.
U.S. retailers including Walmart Inc will add “Do Not Sell My Info” links to their websites and signage in stores starting Jan. 1, allowing California shoppers to understand for the first time what personal and other data the retailers collect, sources said.
Others like Home Depot will allow shoppers not just in California but around the country to access such information online. At its California stores, Home Depot will add signage, offer QR codes so shoppers can look up information using their mobile devices and train store employees to answer questions […]
Target spokeswoman Jessica Carlson said a “Do Not Sell” button on its website, will be visible to all U.S. shoppers and California residents will have access to information outlined under the new law. Target already allows its shoppers to opt out of sharing their information with third parties for marketing purposes, she said.
Amazon.com Inc is taking a different approach. We do not plan to put a “Do not sell” button on our website because Amazon is not in the business of selling customers’ personal data and it never has been,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement.
Some companies say they’re struggling to interpret “ambiguities” in the law, leaving some companies to wonder if their customer rewards programs might not be compliant. Reuters says a source inside Walmart told them the retail giant is “working through a lot of ambiguities in the law, for example, the language around loyalty programs and if retail companies can offer them going forward.”
However, this is expected to be unlikely, as the new CCPA regulations, much like Europe’s GDPR laws, are intended to offer customers a choice as to how their data is used.
Tech giants and other large firms have long lobbied the federal government for a federal privacy law that would overrule state laws, making it easier to comply with a single set of regulations, instead of up to 50 individual sets of laws. So far, no action by the federal government has been noted.
(Via 9to5Mac)
(Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash)