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California Proposition 24: Digital Privacy

by Cerillion Skyline accessed flickr user Dominic Smith / Resized
Digital fingerprint

This is a 2-minute summary of what’s on the ballot. Click here to listen to them all.

Proposition 24 is about consumer data privacy laws in California. And it’s a complicated one.

Two years ago, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA. It was the first state law in the country to protect consumers’ personal information. 

But the group that campaigned for that act to be passed, says that it didn’t go far enough. Now they’re campaigning to expand the CCPA.

The proposed amendmentsinclude a lot of nitty gritty details. Basically, it outlines even further the provisions for collecting and sharing consumer information. It would also create a new government agency to enforce the CCPA. 

The proposition’s only supporter is the group that originally campaigned for the bill in 2018. Its sole funding comes from that organization’s chairperson, Alastair Mactaggart — a San Francisco-based real estate developer. His PAC has raised over $4 million.

There are no official opponents of Proposition 24. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any critics. The ACLU of Northern California says that Proposition 24 doesn’t really protect consumer privacy. It actually adds loopholes to protect corporate profits — like allowing businesses to reduce the quality of services if customers  opt-out of sharing their data.

A vote yes on Proposition 24 would amend consumer data privacy laws. A vote no would keep consumer privacy in California as it is.

Noor Bouzidi is an intern with KALW. Her reporting interests are housing insecurity, immigration, economy, and all issues around systemic poverty in California.