A Guide To CCPA – How is it Beneficial For Business Owners & Consumers?

How many times have you overlooked the importance of “Privacy Policy” and ticked off the “I agree to the terms and condition” box without giving it a second thought? We all have been there once, twice, or maybe numerous times in our lives and that’s honestly an abrupt thing to do unless you are thoroughly aware of your data privacy laws. Privacy is valuable and moreover influences our decision that ultimately leads to shaping behavior. This is why countries, with each passing day, are focusing more on implementing advanced consumer privacy regulations.

Companies nowadays possess millions of private information of customers that are not meant to be shared or in case if it does, then consumers should transparently be aware of it. Data privacy has become integrally important whether it comes to manage different types of information at the business or individual level. Over the years since data has become digitized, the focus on proper handling of information as well as complying with protection regulations has shifted exponentially. In simple terms, data privacy is all about how the personal information of different consumers is collected, stored, and managed by keeping an eye on the applicability of privacy acts. 

Amidst the privacy concerns cropping up across the country, the government is settling up with security plans that can easily cope up with the new regulations and favor companies operating in various industries. There are mainly two privacy laws that are considered mainstream – GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) for the citizens of Europe and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) for the citizens of California. 

Since both the laws provide in-depth research to the data privacy rules and regulations for consumers, the guide to CCPA will explain how it is beneficial for business owners as well as consumers in different conducts.

What Is CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)?

CCPA stands for California Consumer Privacy Act and commonly known as California privacy law by native residents. It is a state-wide data privacy act that modulates how businesses all over the world, who are accountable for CCPA, handle the personal information of people belonging to California. California privacy regulation was put into effect from January 2020. California consumer privacy act requirements focus on providing in-depth knowledge about consumer data rights and personal information by inducing a significant impact on consumers as well as certain businesses. Since CCPA uses the term personal information in a very broad way, many California residents and businesses might be wondering how does CCPA defines personal information. 

Personal information in California privacy law is defined as – “information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could acceptably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.” It is to be noticed that any kind of personal information that either by inference or proposition contributes to the identification of an individual or household can be deemed as CCPA personal information.

List of Personal Information Comprises to CCPA Act

Since we know the information that substantiates the identity of an individual or household falling under California privacy law falls under CCP regulation, being informed about what kind of data is covered in CCPA specifically could elude certain doubts for businesses as well as consumers. Personal information under the CCPA includes the following:

• Direct identifiers: Real name, alias, postal address, social security numbers.
• Unique identifiers: Cookies, IP addresses, pixel tags, and account names.
• Biometric data: Fingerprints, face scan, retina, voice recording.
• Geolocation data: Location history.
• Internet activity: Browsing history, search history, data on the web, app, and advertisement.
• Sensitive information: Health data, personal characteristics, behavior, sexual preferences, education data.

CCPA Compliance Guide: What Does It Hold For Consumers?

Put into effect from last year, the CCPA act enables Californians to know the different business categories of information collected from them and how it will be used by the companies in the future. CCPA, being very much similar to GDPR, or I rather say one step ahead of many potent acts, mainly zeroes in on strengthening transparency, providing power to consumers, and data security. Each of the components has been discussed at length under California consumer privacy act requirements.

Transparency

CCPA puts consumers on primacy by letting the consumers of California know what data is collected and for what purpose. The act also gives Californians the authority to know the details of what data of theirs is being sold and to whom. It is regarded as more transparent than Europe’s strictest privacy law GDPR.

Power to Consumers

The right to opt-out or opt-in for the sale of their data puts consumers in more power. On top of all, the consumers will also be having the right to see their data, and privately sue the company if they come across any breach or damages done to their personal information against their will.

Data Security

Under the CCPA implementation, the companies vow to protect the intimacy of consumer’s personal data from any security breach. However, in any case, they fail to meet any of the commitments, they will be liable for both fines and civil suits.

What do you need to know about the CCPA data privacy regulation and rights as a consumer? Given are the five general CCPA rights for consumers belonging to California.

Who Must Be CCPA Compliant? Does It Apply to Your Business?

What CCPA means for you and your app? Does your business meet CCPA standards? If you are deliberating over such questions, it is important to understand the CCPA compliance guide and threshold. Since data has been proving to be the most valuable asset for any business, companies need to be cognizant about collecting and using consumer data in a legal manner. That’s where CCPA privacy compliance regulations come into the picture. 

Many marketers believe that the California privacy law is a mighty act that could be beneficial for both consumers as well as businesses. CCPA encompasses the process of mapping consumer data, however, before diving deeper into the privacy law legislated for Californians, businesses must get the answers to the following questions.

• What personal data do you currently collect or plan to collect in the future as well?
• What are the data collection methods you use?
• Where do you store this data?
• Do you share the collected data? If so, with whom?
• Do you sell the data to other websites?

Unlike GDPR, CCPA allows users to be more secure about their personal data and demonstrate faith towards the businesses that provide them with more privacy. Businesses, in order to comply with the CCPA act, first need to meet the thresholds. CCPA law doesn’t apply to all businesses as its primary target is the large tech companies and data brokers. Amidst the act of privacy concerns cropping up across the country, there have been several examples where businesses have been caught utilizing the personal data of consumers without their consent. In this regard, the California privacy law standards take stringent action and turn fortunes for the small size organizations who are not making use of consumer’s personal data for their companies or own advantage. 

According to the Office of the Attorney General, California, there are some guidelines set by the authority stating to the businesses to whom the CCPA applies and who are exempted from it. You can have a look at the image below carrying the differences between the two.

If you think that your company constitutes the CCPA compliance and should be employing CCPA protocols either on your website or app, the first thing you need to begin with is updating the privacy policy in which a section should specifically be addressing the California Consumer Privacy Act requirements. Let’s talk about this in detail.

California Privacy Law: Key Points Businesses Should Be Considering

Ever since the California privacy law has been put into effect, businesses are getting obsessed over implementing the compliance plan into their app or website (if their business meets the standards) and therefore prompting developers to keep the mandatory CCPA requirements, that need to be showcased, in mind at the early stage of app development. You might be wondering why does the CCPA matter to developers? Well, not only companies or marketers, CCPA is a privacy law that is increasingly taking hold across several verticals. When it comes to implementing the right to request information, the developers and programmers are the ones who take the front seat and this is the reason CCPA is significant to developers as well.

Here I have compiled a few important things that developers and businesses both should be mindful of CCPA compliance guide.

Updating Privacy Policy

From identifying the category of personal information and notifying consumers about their rights to opt-in and opt-out, the company’s privacy policy section should educate consumers about the CCPA vastly including the disclosures required by the California privacy law.

Publicizing Privacy Policy

Put forth the privacy policy implying California privacy law to consumers as it should be the first thing on the website or an app they can come to terms with. It depends upon the developer whether they can provide consumers with a privacy policy link on the app’s storefront’s page or wherever they feel feasible but they should ensure it is reasonably accessible to consumers.

Provide Notice During Data Collection

For instance, you need consumer’s direct or unique identifiers data, which they might not be expecting of falling under the CCPA, send them just-in-time notice via in-app form concept where they can be alerted about the collection of unexpected data and their will of agreeing or disagreeing to using it by the companies.

Pay Heed to CCPA’s Broad Protocols

The business owner might come across a situation where they have to share some of the consumer’s details with other companies. Therefore, it would be necessary for the developers to employ an additional section explaining CCPA’s broad protocols of “selling personal information.” The sale of the consumers comes up with opt-in and opt-out requirements and saves companies from slipping into legal troubles.

If you are among those business enthusiasts that are mulling over what are the benefits of CCPA or how the Californian privacy law is calibratedly advantageous for business, let me put an important aspect over here. CCPA might seem it is only for full-fledged giant businesses, small businesses are equally accountable for taking care of the privacy which invokes the trust factor to the consumer for a company. This results in making consumers feel their privacy matters to the business and therefore draws an impression of being cogent.

Make Your Business CCPA Compliant In Four Easy Steps

Data privacy has advanced from protecting the general information of consumers to the most important ones. Since the consumers have grown more conscious of protecting privacy rights, acts like California Consumer Policy Privacy Act (CCPA) help them know where their data is being used and for what purpose. On the other hand, CCPA compliance guide and regulations allow businesses to grab an opportunity to strengthen their data security measures in every respect. 

Once the business has realized the CCPA’s importance, the most challenging part that unease them is the implementation of compliance in their business. Enforcing CCPA compliance can be arduous for organizations and therefore, some key points may come to their rescue and help them lead in the right direction. Given are the steps that companies can employ to embrace CCPA compliance in their business.

STEP 1 (Hire a Dedicated Team)

Include the members from legal and IS divisions so that the CCPA compliance task can be initiated effortlessly. The skilled and designated members of the team will lead the organizations to understand the legislative intent from a business perspective that eventually aids to CCPA compliance.

STEP 2 (Categorize Data Inventory)

Companies often wonder about what kind of data is covered in CCPA. Though there is a list of information that encompasses CCPA, some sensitive ones are crucial sparing no effort. Companies at times might get asked to undertake different tasks such as conducting customer verification as well as providing collected personal information to the customer on a special request. Therefore, the businesses need to program their inventory in a way that easily complies with the CCPA. 

STEP 3 (Assess & Fortify Cybersecurity Risks)

Though all types of personal data and information protection are crucial for businesses, cybersecurity is one of the essential areas that need more emphasis as it directly accords with customer data theft. Businesses might require beefing up the existing systems and technology but has to be done in order to protect consumer data to get violated.

STEP 4 (Make Amendments to Your Existing Contracts)

It becomes important for companies to update their privacy policy and existing contracts when they have opted to work with third parties. Before disclosing any privacy amendments to the consumers, make sure you have covered all the basic CCPA compliance guide and requirements.

How Appventurez Can Help You Understand CCPA Compliance For Your Business?

If you are serving Californian residents via your business and wondering whether you are liable for the CCPA compliance and if yes then how to take the first step to register yourself as compliant, let us come to your rescue. Besides being one of the industries’ leading mobile app development companies, we also dispense our offerings in the consulting line of business and help companies overcome challenges, increase revenue or grow. CCPA is a data privacy law devised for the residents of California and businesses who meet the basic criteria of California privacy law. Since CCPA has already been put into effect from last year, you can connect with us and know the threshold of CCPA and data regulation.