As we continue to read stories about consumer privacy violations, we thought it would be a good opportunity to highlight new legislation coming into effect soon, following in the footsteps of GDPR in Europe.
We’ve compiled a brief list of things you need to be aware of regarding the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), and how it will affect marketers professionally.
What is CCPA, and how will it affect marketers?
Internet privacy is becoming an increasingly regulated aspect of our social and digital lives, and new legislation in this field affects a broad spectrum of professionals, especially marketers.
The recently passed legislation regarding data privacy will change the ways businesses will use consumer data. Marketers, along with other professionals in the field, have a few months to learn and adapt to the new law, which goes into effect on January 1, 2020.
To put it simply
The CCPA provides Californians with a set of important data privacy-related rights:
- They are to be informed about what data is being collected about them;
- The right to demand that their personal data is deleted from servers;
- They are to be informed whether their personal data is sold or provided to any other party;
- They are to be informed on who their data is sold or provided to;
- Forbid businesses to sell or disclose their personal data to third parties;
- Consumers must be able to access their personal data collected by the websites they visit.
However, not all business are subject to the regulations stipulated in the CCPA. There are specific criteria, which, if met, a company must honor the rights mentioned above to the people of California:
- Companies with gross revenue of $25 million and more;
- Companies and brokers that purchase, sell, or distribute the personal data of 50000 and more Californians, households, or devices;
- Companies, which make most of their revenue off commercializing the personal data of consumers.
The effect on the marketing departments
While your company might not be located in California, or even in the States, this state is home to around 12% of the US population and is one of the strongest economies on the planet. It’s impossible to disregard this new legislation simply.
One of the most important decisions you’ll have to make is whether you actually need to use third-party data or not? Is it imperative to your business’s growth, or can you substitute it with second- and first-party data?
Secondly, given that the CCPA is an attempt to make the internet a more transparent place, you might want to look into collecting some types of data directly from your customers, rather than purchasing it from third-party brokers.
You’ll have to ensure that a consumers’ request to delete their personal data from your servers is granted immediately. This is a more technical aspect of CCPA compliance, which needs to be put in place to allow users to be “forgotten.”
If you do sell consumer data to other parties, you’ll have to deal with much stricter requirements. The CCPA stipulates that if you plan on selling customer data, you’ll have to place a visible button or box that has the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” option in it. This allows your potential and existing customers to opt out of having their personal information collected.
While that’s not very complicated from a technical standpoint, such a button simply doesn’t look good on the website of a large business or corporation. It immediately reveals that you’re earning money off your customers’ data, aside from your primary product/service.
The wrap-up
In conclusion, it’s safe to say that the internet and the world of digital marketing is moving further away from third-party cookies. The recent I/O conference held by Google is an important part of this distancing from third-party data.
We can assume that businesses need to look into ways to efficiently and transparently collect first-party data from their customers.