• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 15, 2018

The California Consumer Privacy Act, which I have written about in the past, is seeing financial opposition from a long list of well-known tech companies. The act, if passed, would require companies to disclose the types of information they collect about people such as search data and the data used to target ads.

The California Consumer Privacy Act also would allow consumers to opt out of having their information sold. The act is scheduled for vote in November.

Google has been working to create new privacy settings. The company announced Ad Settings on Thursday, which allows users of its products to control the ads it sees and the type of personal information advertisers can use.

Some of those tech companies, which the act would affect, are investing millions of dollars to squash the proposal.

Cox Communications donated $50,000. The Interactive Advertising Bureau also put in $50,000, according to state disclosure records. Amazon, Microsoft and Uber have all made what The Verge reports as “substantial contributions,” all made to a group campaigning against the initiative.

Amazon and Microsoft made contributions in the amount of $195,000. Uber kicked in $50,000. Facebook, Google, AT&T, and Verizon have each contributed $200,000. Since contributing, Verizon dropped out.

While other advertising groups and technology companies have invested thousands, Mark Zuckerberg said in April that Facebook would no longer support the group, but the document shows that the company contributed $200,000 in late February.

California Bay Area real estate developer Alastair Mactaggart has mostly funded the privacy act. In fact, The Verge reports that Mactaggart has spent more than $3 million on the campaign. He began working on the initiative four years ago after hearing a Google engineer say the public would be frightened to learn how much data the company holds on consumers.