• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 5, 2020

With the passing of California Proposition 24, also known as the Consumer Privacy Rights Act, the law will strengthen existing privacy measures in California. And if presidential hopeful Joe Biden and U.S. junior senator Kamala Harris make it to the White House, advertisers can bet the consumer privacy act will be woven into the fabric of the United States.

It will allow consumers to stop businesses from selling or sharing their personal information such as race, religion, geographic location, and sexual orientation.

The proposition imposes stiffer fines on companies that break data privacy rules. It also creates a new state agency that, along with the California Justice department, will enforce consumer privacy laws.

Advertisers should expect to see that go nationwide.

Proposition 24, which extends California’s current year-old data privacy law, will block companies like Facebook and Google from collecting advertising data without consumer consent. This will change their business models and cut into revenue.

Google and Facebook both gather personal data collected by third-party websites to strengthen their advertising products, which make up the bulk of their revenue.

Businesses that suffer data breaches as a result of not meeting specific standards will be responsible subject to libel and will be unable to avoid fines by fixing their security holes within 30 days of a leak. Companies that violate the data privacy rights of minors can be penalized up to $7,500.

Most of the features in the law should take effect by January 2023.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in an October press release said Proposition 24 Is full of loopholes.

"Prop 24 is also full of loopholes that undermine consumer privacy, including a carveout written by the credit-reporting industry, weakened privacy protections for Californians when they travel, and new ways to keep consumers in the dark about what companies are doing with their personal information,” according to the release. “For every step forward, there are two steps back. That approach won't advance privacy in California."