Consumer Reports Sees Calif. Privacy Act Opt-Out Challenges

Authorized agents can help people tap California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) rights, but challenges remain, Consumer Reports said Thursday. CCPA lets consumers choose a third-party agent to make data requests on their behalf. This holds promise, but “additional rulemaking and industry norms are needed to make authorized agents effective at scale for California’s 40 million residents,” CR said. CR agents issued opt-out requests on consumers’ behalf to 21 companies, including Airbnb, Amazon, AT&T, Comcast, Equifax, Intuit, Oracle and Starbucks, it said. Twelve companies confirmed they stopped selling at least some data in response to opt-outs, five claimed not to sell consumer data, three provided no confirmation and one requested nonstandard information the agents lacked, CR said. Average response time was seven business days, the group said. “CR’s authorized agents often met confusing web forms and ambiguous communications.”