CPRA, 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 an endorsement by Common Sense of the California Privacy Rights Act, a ballot measure to strengthen consumer privacy rights and enforcement for all Californians and increase penalties on corporations that fail to protect kids.
Last week, Californians for Consumer Privacy announced that the CPRA initiative 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.
“As co-sponsors of the California Consumer Privacy Act, we are pleased to support Californians for Consumer Privacy on this measure, which will ensure Californians’ strong privacy rights are not weakened in the future,” said James P. Steyer, founder & CEO of Common Sense. “California was the first state to pass a comprehensive privacy law to protect consumers’ personal data. This year, the people of California have a chance to make us the first state with a Privacy Protection Agency to enforce those rights and hold Big Tech accountable.”
“We’re thrilled to partner with such a well-respected organization that advocates on behalf of our children’s safety and well-being,” said Alastair Mactaggart, founder of Californians for Consumer Privacy. “Common Sense is a trusted source for parents across the nation, and we worked together with them to create the initial landmark consumer privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act. Now we will collaborate with them on the California Privacy Rights Act to ensure that families and children are protected from those who abuse their private information.”
The California Privacy Rights Act would:
- Establish the California Privacy Protection Agency to protect our privacy rights, hold companies accountable, and impose penalties for negligence involving theft of consumers’ emails and passwords;
- Ensure safeguards for our kids, tripling fines for violations involving children’s privacy;
- 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;
- Make it much harder for business interests to weaken privacy in California in the future, by preventing Sacramento from weakening Californians’ privacy rights, while at the same time enabling the legislature to pass additional future protections for kids and all Californians.
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.
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