Never done a Privacy check? Here's why you should do it before it's too late.
Many governments consider that privacy is important, and they formulate data protection laws and policies to safeguard those rights.
Data privacy plays an essential role in the data protection segment. The businesses use their consumers' data by collecting, using, and sharing them with third parties by meeting the regulatory requirements while protecting their data confidentiality.
But in recent years, data privacy cases recorded a tremendous increase in cyber attacks that resulted in personal data breaches, leaked financial data, compromised intellectual property, and Security protocols that gave rise to mass exploitation.
In 2019, the US alone suffered from 1400+ cyberattack cases that exposed 164.68 million sensitive records and raised enough concerns for the governments to impart strengthening laws and robust policies to protect consumer privacy rights.
In response to this vulnerable damage, the California state came up with the CCPA compliance (California Consumer Privacy Act) that now acts as a counter defensive firewall for all privacy-related issues.
In this article, we will walk you step by step to provide a brimming clarity on topics like,
What is California privacy law?
What are the new California privacy act regulations to revamp your privacy policies?
How to get CCPA compliance for your business?
Which is the best CCPA software to help you rescue from this technical jargon?
Let's get started with the California privacy law.
What is CCPA?
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), officially called the AB-375, is a data privacy law enacted by the California state jurisdiction on how global businesses are authorized to manage the personal data of California residents. It was passed in the state legislature on June 28, 2018, and came into effect from January 1, 2020.
Companies are subjected to CCPA if they:
Have gross annual revenue over $25m,
Derive more than 50% of annual revenue from the sale of consumers' personal information,
Buy, receive, or sell the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices.
The new law provides strict and compulsory guidelines to the companies for informing the citizens about their data collection and how they share it with third parties.
This makes it easy for citizens to filter out which data should be used and restricted from the public domain.
The prevailing law proved to be a landmark decision for securing the privacy rights of Californian citizens, as they gain more control over the personal data usage that businesses collect to promote their products and services.
The CCPA regulations that you shouldn't miss.
The California data privacy law was made for businesses and organizations to be responsible keepers for their consumer's data. Any company that violates the data privacy law by leaking the consumer's data without their consent may face severe penalties and fines.
Here are the four crucial regulatory components of California data privacy law that help you revise your privacy policies to become CCPA Compliant.
Right to know
Consumers have the right to know what, where, and how their data is used. It provides them complete control over their data utilization.
Right to delete
Consumers have the right to delete the collected data if they feel it is unnecessary and not crucial for the promotional process (with some exceptions)
Right to opt-out
People can opt-out from selling their information to third parties by practicing the right to opt-out.
Right to non-discrimination
This right is practiced when the users feel that they are facing discrimination from businesses for not allowing their data to be used for commercial purposes.
Now Onwards, businesses collecting online information should post a noticeable link on the business web pages from where the personal data is collected.
Businesses collecting information through mobile devices should now post an in-app notification or an information link that must contain the type of data collected.
Businesses that do not collect data for commercial purposes or share it with third parties need not worry about data privacy violations.
Since the law passed in the state legislature, it made to headlines in no time with its first-ever violation case,
Barnes v. Hanna Andersson LLP and Salesforce.com.
Here's the whole story and the final verdict of this case.
Barnes alleges that high-end and popular children's clothing online store Hanna Andersson and its San Franciscan cloud-based e-commerce platform Salesforce failed to protect user data, therefore violating the CCPA. This data breach resulted in leaking data of 200000 customers and hacking 10000 users private data like passwords, bank accounts, names, contact, and addresses.
Status:
Hanna Andersson and Salesforce were proven guilty and they compensated by paying $400,000 in total for the case settlement.
Why can Privacy policies not be neglected?
Privacy policies are the new life-blood for businesses. A user-friendly policy with solid compliance with CCPA guidelines will help protect from several lawsuits and hefty fines. Perhaps, it should be an organization's genuine commitment to hold their consumer's data and use best practices for doing business while protecting their data confidentiality.
Privacy policies provide consumers detailed information regarding businesses' online and offline practices for collecting, using, disclosing, and selling personal information.
Hampering personal data in any form is illegal and should be avoided at any cost. Consumers check the privacy policies of businesses before signing up for their products and services.
It's essential to bullet-proof your businesses and render it’s activities under the new California privacy act.
How Should You Go about it?
The sooner your business complies with the California privacy act, the sooner your organization will stay away from hefty fines, legal penalties, improper violations, and reputational harm.
If there is an unintentional violation in your organization, you have 30 days to rectify and settle the issue.
Here are some good to go tips for your organization:
Update your privacy policy
Revamp your privacy policy according to the CCPA regulations. Update your policy every six to twelve months and inform consumers about your data utilization process.
Run Internal Audits
An internal assessment of the organization will check unauthorized data transfer and protect data disclosure to unrecognized third parties. Run an internal review frequently to ensure proper internal functioning of the organization.
Be Honest to your Consumers
Give exact data collection notices to consumers while collecting their data through cookies and other permissions. Provide positive preferences to use maximum data privacy benefits.
Encourage Consumer Privacy Law
Consumers know that they have certain rights under CCPA. Encourage consumers to provide feedback on your data policy. It builds trust and mutual respect between you and your consumers.
Use Data Mapping
To fulfill consumer's data requests, use data mapping for your business. It helps you locate the users' data, map its usage, and also helps to link it back to its owner.
Immediate response in case of violation
If your company violates any privacy protocol, immediately respond to its concerned plaintiff, conduct a positive mutual communication, provide a genuine affirmative action and resolve the issue as soon as possible.
The CCPA has witnessed far-reaching effects, and organizations are shifting towards a consumer-centric approach to privacy protection. The California privacy law has become a role model for several countries, and many of them formulated their privacy laws aligning to that of California's privacy act.
The Best CCPA compliance software that rescues you from technical jargon.
New online businesses face hurdles to understand the technical/legal jargon of the government. Here's when the Quantum growth labs come to the rescue. Quantum will assist you in simplifying your CCPA compliance process and automate the whole process with zero margins of error.
IAA recommends taking quantum's free assessment report, which profoundly analyzes the data privacy loopholes and provides customized solutions to ensure you are a CCPA compliant organization. Check out their personalized privacy doc kit, which helps protect businesses from monetary loss and customer distrust.
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