SACRAMENTO, CA—Today Senator Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) announced that California’s leading agency charged with protecting consumer privacy rights, the California Privacy Protection Agency, supports SB 362, The Delete Act, which allows Californians to hit the “delete” button when it comes to a data broker’s ability to collect, maintain and sell their personal information.
“The California Privacy Protection Agency is charged with safeguarding the privacy rights of all Californians, and their support of The Delete Act underscores the need stop out-of-control gambling with our most personal information,” said Becker. “With CPPA’s support, California moves closer to finally giving consumers the ability to stop data brokers from using their personal information related to reproductive and gender affirming healthcare, geolocation, immigration status and purchasing data to sell to the highest bidder.”
“The CPPA is proud to support SB 362. It aligns with our Agency’s mission to protect Californians’ consumer privacy and makes it easier for individuals to exercise their data privacy rights,” said Jennifer Urban, Chair of the California Privacy Protection Agency Board. “With hundreds of data brokers on the data broker registry, it is practically impossible for consumers to delete their data with each business one-by-one. This bill, which the CPPA Board unanimously voted to support at our recent board meeting, addresses that problem by enabling consumers to have their personal information deleted in one single step.”
Data brokers collect, analyze, and sell personal information about consumers, aggregating data from public records, social media platforms, online transactions, and much more to create detailed profiles on millions of people. Data brokers have to register with the California Attorney General, but they don’t have to report what kinds of information they collect and sell. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), you have a right to require a data broker to delete information they collected directly from you, but you can’t require a broker to delete information they may have acquired about you from other sources.
SB 362 has a simple premise:
- Data brokers would have to register with the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) and disclose the types of personal information they collect.
- The CPPA would create a simple way for Californians to direct all data brokers to delete their personal information free of charge.
- Data brokers that fail to adhere to the law would face civil penalties and administrative fines set by the CPPA.
SB 362 has received widespread support throughout the legislative process, having previously receiving no “no” votes in the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee and has the backing of a broad coalition of privacy rights advocates. It heads to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations Committee for its next hearing.
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Senator Becker represents the 13th Senate District covering portions of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties and includes the cities of Atherton, Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Mountain View, Pacifica, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Mateo, South San Francisco, and Woodside.
The California Privacy Protection Agency’s (CPPA) mission is to protect the consumer privacy of Californians. It was created in November 2020 when California voters approved Proposition 24, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). It is governed by a five-member board appointed by the Governor, Attorney General, State Senate, and State Assembly.