On July 25, 2018, the State of California passed AB 375. This bill mandates the nation’s most comprehensive privacy rights for consumers. Many of you have read about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the European Union’s approach to privacy for its citizen. AB 375, California’s Consumer Privacy Protection Act is very similar to GDPR.

Here is AB 375 boiled down to bullet points, as cited by the proponents at Californians for Consumer Privacy.

  • yellow lock image with california shape imposed Right to know all data collected by a business on you
  • Right to say NO to the sale of your information
  • Right to DELETE your data
  • Right to be informed of what categories of data will be collected about you prior to its collection, and to be informed of any changes to this collection
  • Mandated opt-in before sale of children’s information (under the age of 16)
  • Right to know the categories of third parties with whom your data is shared
  • Right to know the categories of sources of information from whom your data was acquired
  • Right to know the business or commercial purpose of collecting your information.
  • Enforcement by the Attorney General of the State of California
  • Private right of action when companies breach your data, to make sure these companies keep your information safe

These requirements will affect any company with assets or customers in California that:

  1. Have annual gross revenues over $25 million
  2. Buys, receives, sells or shares (for commercial purposes) the personal information of 50,000 or more Californian consumers, households or devices
  3. Derives 50 percent or more of its revenues from selling consumers’ personal information

This sure looks like GDPR’s right to be forgotten theme. How will this impact your business? Only time will tell, as the legislature acknowledges this law will undergo changes before final implementation. To learn more and compare to GDPR as a precedent, you can check out this summary – How Does GDPR Affect Companies Doing Business in California?

Here is a good overview article at Law.com – Understanding Calif.’s Game-Changing Data Protection Law: The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018
For any company that has assets in California or handles Californians’ personal information, California’s new Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 will likely have a significant impact on core business operations.