Last Wednesday at a U.S. Senate panel, major technology companies and internet service providers including Google and AT&T, voiced their appeal to preempt The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 with new legislation.
This landmark California law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in June is groundbreaking. Under the current version, the law grants consumers the right to know what personal information companies are collecting and why and with which businesses it's being shared. Consumers will also have the right to direct companies to delete their information and not to sell it. The law also restricts sharing or selling the data of children younger than 16.
The expanded degree of consumers’ control over their personal information raises concerns for many tech companies. They argue that such kind of stringent state law will only burden the company’s operation and threaten innovation. On this matter, Amazon vice president Andrew DeVore fustigated the effectiveness of the law which he criticized as “confusing” and “may actually undermine important privacy-protective practices.” As these concerns suffused beyond the hearing, the tech companies started pushing their effort to lobby Congress for changes to the law.
Evaluate both the testimony from the tech companies and the current state of consumers’ data privacy. Explain your views on the tech companies’ plan on preempting the California law. To what extent do you agree that The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 is an effective solution to protect the privacy of consumers?
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2018/09/26/amazon-att-google-apple-push-congress-pass-online-privacy-bill-preempt-stronger-california-law/1432738002/
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tech-congress/tech-companies-back-u-s-privacy-law-if-it-preempts-californias-idUSKCN1M62TE
- https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/26/technology/google-dragonfly-senate-hearing/index.html
I think that tech companies are mobilizing because this law threatens their business. They make money selling information to third parties, and are scared of this law because if they are held accountable, consumers will see that their information is being used in suspicious ways.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, I believe their pushback is a standard "follow the money" situation.
--Alessandra Squillace
I agree with you that the tech companies' cause of their action is highly related to the issue of money. As one of the Democrat Senators commented, this sudden support from tech companies of a federal privacy law is believably a bargaining chip.
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