Consumer Privacy Groups Urge California to Slam Brakes on CCPA Tweaks

Consumer privacy groups lined up against five industry-backed bills advancing through the California legislature to tweak the California Consumer Privacy Act. In a Monday media teleconference, officials including from Consumers Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union and Common Sense Kids Action, said they oppose AB-25, AB-846, AB-873, AB-1416 and AB-1564, bills scheduled for a key hearing Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If the panel clears the Assembly-passed bills, they would head to the Senate floor. None of the bills that the privacy groups supported earlier this session, including Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s (D) bill to expand protections and add a private right of action, are moving forward, said Common Sense Vice President Elizabeth Galicia: “All the CCPA-related bills that would actually strengthen rights are not being negotiated currently.” The worst bill is AB-1416, which would allow companies to ignore consumers requests to opt out of sale of their data if it’s for government and fraud-detection purposes, said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien. The exemption is too broad, making the bill “harmful and unnecessary,” he said. AB-873, modifying definitions of “personal information” and “de-identified,” looks like technical edits but it’s a “Trojan horse” depriving consumers of control over their personal data, said Jacob Snow, ACLU Northern California Technology and Civil Liberties attorney. People can be identified even from anonymized data, and it will get easier over time with the rise of machine learning, he said. Workers need “at least as much” protection as consumers, but AB-25’s exemption for employers would take that away from current and former employees, contractors and job applicants, said Mitch Steiger, legislative advocate for the California Labor Federation. That bill has become a “grab bag” that's under negotiation and could be further amended, said Common Sense Senior Counsel-Policy and Privacy Ariel Fox Johnson. AB-846 goes beyond its stated purpose of allowing loyalty programs by permitting companies to charge more if someone opts out of the program, said Justin Brookman, Consumer Reports director-consumer privacy and technology policy. AB-1564 hurts groups without internet access, including seniors and those with low income or education, by removing a requirement that companies list a phone number for opt-out requests, said Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Policy Counsel Emory Roane.