CCPA

What is CCPA?

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) s a state statute that enhances consumer privacy rights and regulates the collection, use, and sale of personal information by businesses operating in California. The CCPA is California’s answer to the European Union’s GDPR. It grants consumers the right to access, delete, correct, etc, to provide transparency and accountability in data practices.

Overview of CCPA

• Law: California Consumer Privacy Act
• Region: California
• Signed On: 28-06-2018
• Effective Date: 01-01- 2020
• Industry: All industries that do business in California

Personal Data Under The CCPA

The CCPA defines personal information as any information that identifies a data subject and those that could reasonably be linked with a particular data subject.

Direct Identifiers: Name, address, email, phone number, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number, online identifier, etc.

Indirect Identifiers: IP address, browsing history, purchase records, geolocation data, health data, biometric data, audio recordings, educational information, employment information, inferences drawn from collected data (e.g., spending habits, political views), and other details that, when combined, could identify a person.

Key Components Of CCPA

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is built upon several essential components, which collectively establish its comprehensive data protection framework. These components encompass

• Data Subject Rights
• Data Protection Principles
• Compliance Requirements
• Data Request Handling
• Enforcement
• Privacy Policy Updates

Data Protection Principle

The data protection principles of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) revolve around the following fundamental tenets:

• Purpose Limitation: PII collected must be used only for the specific purposes disclosed to the consumer during collection. Businesses cannot use it for unrelated purposes without additional consent.
• Data Minimization: Businesses can only collect reasonably necessary PII for their stated purposes. Collecting excessive or irrelevant data raises privacy concerns and increases compliance risks.
• Data Security: Businesses must implement reasonable security measures to protect PII from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include encryption, access controls, regular security assessments, and more.
• Transparency: Businesses must be transparent about the PII they collect, its purposes, and any third parties with whom data is shared. They also need mechanisms for consumers to exercise their rights and address concerns.
• Accountability: Businesses are accountable for complying with CCPA requirements, including responding to consumer requests and ensuring third-party service providers adhere to the law.

Rights Under CCPA

The CCPA empowers Californians with various rights regarding their PII:

• Right to Inform
• Right to Access
• Right to Deletion
• Right to Correct
• Right to Limit Use
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale
• Right to Non-discrimination

Who Needs To Comply

The CCPA applies to businesses that:

• Do business in California.
• Collect the PII of California residents.
• Have an annual gross revenue surpassing $25 million.
• Buy or sell the PII of 50,000 or more California residents annually.
• Derive 50% or more of their gross revenue from selling California residents’ PII.

Exceptions

The CCPA, while aiming for comprehensive data privacy protection, does include several exceptions:

• Business-to-Business Communications: This policy doesn’t apply to personal information collected for business-to-business communications, which means interactions between businesses rather than between companies and individuals.
• Employee Data: Information about employees, collected and used solely within the context of the employment relationship, falls outside the CCPA’s scope. However, data collected about job applicants falls under CCPA protections.
• Publicly Available Information: PII already available from public records is exempt from CCPA regulations.
• Financial Institutions: Information governed by specific federal laws, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) or Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), is exempt from certain CCPA provisions.
• Research: Scientific, historical, or statistical research activities can be exempt from CCPA’s deletion requirement under specific conditions, like informed consent and public interest justification.
• Vehicle Ownership Information: The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) supersedes the CCPA for information like vehicle ownership shared between dealerships and manufacturers for warranty or recall purposes.
• Healthcare Sector: In protected health information (PHI) matters, the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) precedes the CCPA.
• Law Enforcement Activities: Personal information collected and used for law enforcement purposes is outside the CCPA’s scope.

Regulatory Penalties

The CCPA imposes two types of fines for non-compliance:

Per-Violation Fines: Intentional Violations: $7,500 per violation, with no set maximum. This means the penalties can quickly multiply depending on the number of affected individuals and violations.

Unintentional Violations: $2,500 per offense, capped at $2,500 per data breach event. This emphasizes the importance of preventative measures to avoid unintentional errors.

Consumer Lawsuits: Statutory Damages: $100-$750 per affected consumer per occurrence or actual damages incurred (whichever is higher). This empowers individuals to seek direct compensation for privacy violations.

Injunctive Relief: Courts can impose orders to stop unlawful activity and prevent future harm.

Compliance Authority For CCPA

The primary compliance authority for the California Consumer Privacy Act is the California Attorney General’s Office (CAO). The California Privacy Protection Agency started operating in July 2023. However, the CPPA focuses primarily on rulemaking and education, taking over most of these responsibilities from the CAO. The CAO maintains its enforcement authority under the CCPA and other ongoing legal duties. Therefore, while the CPPA plays a growing role in CCPA compliance, the California Attorney General’s Office remains the primary enforcement authority for the act.

In conclusion, understanding and adhering to CCPA regulations are paramount for businesses operating in California or handling the personal information of California residents. Data masking techniques, like data anonymization, data encryption, and data redaction, can significantly reduce the risk of non-compliance and data breaches by obscuring sensitive PII within development, testing, and analytics environments. This minimizes the exposure of sensitive information like personally identifiable information (PII), financial records, protected health information, social security numbers, etc, simplifying CCPA compliance and enhancing data security and privacy.