Ballot Measure, Signed by 931,000 Californians, Will Strengthen Consumer Privacy Rights and Enforcement, Tripling Fines for Violations of Children’s Privacy
SACRAMENTO, CA — Today, Californians for Consumer Privacy announced that the California Privacy Rights Act, an initiative to strengthen consumer privacy rights for all Californians, qualified to appear on the November 2020 ballot. The campaign submitted 931,000 signatures for verification, which were validated by California’s Secretary of State.
The California Privacy Rights Act would:
- Protect our most personal information, allowing consumers to prevent businesses from sharing sensitive information about our health, our finances, our race or ethnicity, and our precise location;
- Safeguard our kids, tripling fines for collecting and selling our children’s private information and requiring opt-in consent to collect data from consumers under age 16;
- Establish an enforcement arm, by establishing a new agency to protect these rights, the California Privacy Protection Agency, and imposing penalties for negligence involving theft of consumers’ emails and passwords.
- Make it much harder to weaken privacy in California in the future, by preventing Sacramento from weakening Californians’ privacy rights.
“California has led the nation in securing fundamental privacy rights,” said Alastair Mactaggart, founder of Californians for Consumer Privacy. “We’ve come a long way in the two years since passing the landmark California Consumer Privacy Act, but during these times of unprecedented uncertainty, we need to ensure that the laws keep pace with the ever-changing ways corporations and other entities are using our data. That’s why our campaign is going to make sure all Californians know about the new and stronger rights provided under this ballot measure, the California Privacy Rights Act, and why we need their support in November.”
“I stand with California consumers as we work to craft laws that give them back the fundamental power over their own information, an increasingly precious commodity,” said Senator Robert Hertzberg, California Senate Majority Leader and joint author of AB 375, the California Consumer Privacy Act. “This ballot measure is the important next step in ensuring that privacy rights are sustained now and well into the future.”
“I’m thrilled that this ballot measure prioritizes privacy rights for children by tripling fines against offenders who abuse their private information” said Celine Mactaggart, co-founder of Californians for Consumer Privacy. “There are so many predatory practices that put our children’s privacy at risk, and this ballot measure will help put a stop to that.”
“This initiative creates a real enforcement arm that hasn’t existed to this point,” said Rick Arney, co-founder of Californians for Consumer Privacy. “I can’t wait to get our message out to all Californians, because in November this measure will put the power to control their own information back into the hands of consumers.”
Recent polling by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research shows that Californians are overwhelmingly supportive of being in control of their most sensitive personal information, and they also want control over how their children’s data is used.
- 88% would vote YES to support a ballot measure expanding privacy protections for personal information.
###
