SACRAMENTO, Calif.–How consumer data is bought and sold is going to get a lot of scrutiny in California in 2018, and what often begins on the West Coast moves east.
An initiative has been introduced and is now seeking voter signatures to get it on the ballot that would require significant disclosures by companies that collect, buy or share personal information on Californians.
The initiative is being backed by Alastair Mactaggart, a real estate developer, and was put in motion by a discussion Mactaggart had with a computer engineer at a party in which the engineer remarked, “If people just knew how much we knew about them, they’d be really worried,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
The initiative also calls for allowing consumers to “opt out” once they know who’s using their information while banning these large businesses from charging a higher price to those who make that choice.
Second, the ballot measure would give new power to prosecutors and average Californians to file civil lawsuits after a data breach or for selling personal information once a customer says “no” to sharing, according to the Times.
Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, responded to the initiative by telling the Times, “Very few people are experts on what the consequences would be.” The Times added that Zaremberg “wonders what would happen to state agencies or schools that share data, or whether a nonprofit credit union might be exempt from the new rules but a commercial bank would not be.”
Calling the data sharing industry the “wealthiest industry in the world,” Mactaggart said he is aware of the battle he faces.
Earlier this year a limited consumer privacy bill stalled in the California General Assembly.