Should you worry about the CCPA? Do those popups on websites about cookies and your personal data have you worrying about whether your website complies with the law? If you’re a small business owner, you probably don’t need to worry. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a law created to provide consumers more control over the personal data that businesses collect on them,and the ability to have that data deleted if they wish.
Since the CCPA only applies to for-profit California businesses that fit the criteria listed below, most small business owners in California will be off the hook for installing popups or other mechanisms of their own to comply with CCPA. What are the criteria?
- 1) The business collects the personal information of consumers**,and
- 2) the business
- has annual gross revenues over $25 million;
- – or –
- annually receives, sells, or shares personal information about 50,000 or more California residents or households or 50,000 devices;
- – or –
- derives 50% or more of their annual revenue from selling personal information about their consumers.
If your business is one targeted by the California Consumer Privacy Act, start making provisions to protect your consumers’ privacy, for them to opt out of data collection, and put systems in place for your company to delete all of personal info you have about them. There are many news articles out there about steps to take to comply with the CCPA, including this one.
What if CCPA doesn’t apply to your business? It’s still important to review your website for legal issues. A different law, CalOPPA, requires any business which collects personal information like names, email addresses, or IP addresses to have a privacy policy listed on their website.
** NB: “Consumers” includes a business’ employees and job applicants under the CCPA
If you need help reviewing the privacy policy on your website or figuring out if your website complies with the latest laws, get in touch with ABL so we can help.
