We have been talking so much on this blog about how Prop 24 can better protect our kids’ online privacy, reduce Identity theft, and give you the important privacy rights to take back control over your personal data …. that we just realized we have not properly introduced ourselves! Sorry! Please read this blog post for a quick intro and/or check out this 1-minute video.
A Little History
In 2016, Alastair Mactaggart, Celine Mactaggart, and Rick Arney founded Californians for Consumer Privacy, a nonprofit political committee dedicated to protecting and expanding privacy rights for consumers. In 2018, Californians for Consumer Privacy sponsored the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ballot measure. The petition was signed by 629,000 Californians, and qualified for the November 2018 ballot.
In June 2018, Californians for Consumer Privacy negotiated with Senator Robert Hertzberg and Assemblymember Ed Chau in the California Legislature, and successfully passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in return for withdrawing the ballot measure. The CCPA gives nearly 40 million people in California the strongest data privacy rights in the country.
Now, Californians for Consumer Privacy is back with the California Privacy Rights Act, which builds upon CCPA’s achievements. They are doing this ballot measure because the CCPA is under attack, and it needs to be strengthened and protected, not weakened. And as technology evolves, we need extra protection for our kids.
The CPRA is Proposition 24 on this November’s ballot here in California. For this initiative, Californians for Consumer Privacy got over 930,000 signatures to add this measure to the ballot. If voters approve the measure in November 2020, we think it will be the best consumer privacy law in the world.
Big Tech companies previously raised over $2 million to fight Californians for Consumer Privacy and our CCPA initiative in 2018, so clearly, they are not fans of the types of regulation that we are proposing. But we are prepared to fight for Prop 24, as we want to give you control over your personal data.
The Team Behind Californians for Consumer Privacy
Alastair & Celine Mactaggart are currently the sole major funders of the initiative and the group behind Prop 24, and they welcome your support. More and more of our fellow citizens are contributing whatever they can at our website. We would so appreciate your assistance—going up against the world’s most valuable companies is daunting, and we need every bit of assistance we can get.
Here’s our leadership group, including:
Alastair Mactaggart, Board Chair and Founder, Californians for Consumer Privacy
Alastair Mactaggart has been building housing in the Bay Area for over 20 years. He believes that all Californians, and people worldwide, should have the fundamental right of data privacy and be able to control their OWN personal information. He believes that it’s not right that companies you’ve never heard of, can buy more information about you (and sell it for a profit), than even your closest friends know. And that you have no control over the process. He advocates for the online privacy of children and believes that parents should have a choice about how their family’s data is sold.
Celine Mactaggart, Board Member and Founder, Californians for Consumer Privacy
Celine is a nonprofit professional whose current work focuses on healthcare, gender equity and women’s empowerment. She has served as a Director of local nonprofits including Girls on the Run Bay Area, the Board of Regents at St. Mary’s College, the George Mark Children’s House, and Cal Performances at UC Berkeley. Celine is the current Chair-Elect of the Board of Women in Leadership and Philanthropy at the University of San Francisco, an Advisory Board member of the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation, and is the founder of a nonprofit dedicated to decreasing the incidences of skin cancer. She is particularly interested in data privacy as it relates to children and women.
Rick Arney, Vice Chair and Board Member, Californians for Consumer Privacy
Rick has worked in the financial industry for over two decades, but some of his fondest work memories come from his time working in the California State Legislature after business school, where he was responsible for analyzing the financial impact of proposed laws. He believes in a future where consumers have meaningful control over their privacy, identity theft is minimized and children’s profiles and preferences are protected.
Robin Swanson, General Consultant and Campaign Manager, Californians for Consumer Privacy
Robin Swanson is the general consultant and campaign manager for Californians for Consumer Privacy. Swanson is a strategist and communications expert with more than 20 years of political experience in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, California. Swanson specializes in strategic communications and media relations, in addition to regularly providing on-air commentary for both local and national news programs. She is currently a regular political analyst on CNN and CNN International.
Nicolette Velazquez, Press Secretary, Californians for Consumer Privacy
Nicolette Velazquez is the press secretary for Californians for Consumer Privacy.
Our Advisory Team
We also have some great people advising us. Here is our advisory team:
Andrew Yang, Presidential Candidate (D), Entrepreneur and Founder of Humanity Forward
Mr. Yang is an American entrepreneur and former presidential candidate. Yang began working in early stage growth companies as a founder or executive from 2000 to 2009. In 2011, he founded Venture for America (VFA), a nonprofit organization focused on creating jobs in cities struggling to recover from the Great Recession. He was a 2020 Democratic candidate for President and is currently the founder of Humanity Forward.
Shoshana Zuboff, Professor Emerita at Harvard Business School
Ms. Zuboff is author of the books In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power; The Support Economy: Why Corporations Are Failing Individuals and the Next Episode of Capitalism (co-authored with James Maxmin) and The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. She is the Charles Edward Wilson Professor Emerita at Harvard Business School and a former Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.
Celine Mactaggart, Co-founder, Californians for Consumer Privacy
See biography above.
Sen. Robert Hertzberg, California Senate Majority Leader
Senate Majority Leader Robert Hertzberg was first elected to the California State Assembly in 1996. He then served as the 64th Speaker of the California State Assembly, unanimously elected by both parties in 2000 and 2001. After his tenure as Speaker, Hertzberg set out to the private sector as a clean energy entrepreneur and in 2014, he returned to state government when he was again elected to represent nearly 1 million people in the San Fernando Valley in the California State Senate. This made Hertzberg one of only six lawmakers in California history to serve as Assembly Speaker and subsequently win a seat in the Senate, where he now serves as Majority Leader.
Ashkan Soltani, Former CTO, Federal Trade Commission
Ashkan Soltani is an independent researcher and technologist specializing in privacy, security, and technology policy. His work draws attention to privacy problems online, demystifies technology for the non-technically inclined, and provides data-driven insights to help inform policy. He’s previously served as a Senior Advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and as the Chief Technologist for the Federal Trade Commission, advising the commission on its technology related policy as well as helping to create its new Office of Technology Research and Investigation.
Professor Lydia de la Torre, Co-Director of Santa Clara University School of Law’s Data Privacy Certificate program
Professor de la Torre teaches comparative data protection law and she is the co-director of Santa Clara University’s Data Privacy Certificate program. She has extensive professional experience working on complex EU, US, and international data protection issues in the private sector. She started her career working as an Associate at Garrigues, a Spanish legal firm that provides business law advice in thirteen countries across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Professor de la Torre has worked as privacy counsel and consultant for fortune five hundred companies such as eBay, PayPal, Intuit and HP. Professor de la Torre’s current areas of interest include EU data protection laws and data protection at the local and State level in California.
Jim Steyer, CEO and Founder, Common Sense Media
Mr. Steyer is CEO of Common Sense Media and author of “Talking Back to Facebook.” Jim has spent more than 20 years as one of the most respected experts and entrepreneurs on issues related to children’s policy and media in the United States. As CEO, he is responsible for the overall leadership of Common Sense Media, the nation’s leading nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the media lives of kids and families. Prior to founding Common Sense, Jim was Chairman and CEO of JP Kids, a respected family media company.
Conclusion
That’s a little about us, but to be candid, Prop 24 is really about you and gaining control over your personal data. As we know businesses are expanding their use of big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to gather increasingly more and more personal information about you. Your personal data is increasingly the fuel that powers their businesses. Prop 24 gives Californians a wide range of new privacy rights. Prop 24 levels the playing field and gives you a say on how those businesses can or cannot use your own personal data.
We urge you to Vote Yes on Prop 24 to better protect our kids’ online privacy, reduce Identity theft, and give you the important privacy rights to take back control over your personal data.
