Common Sense Urges Congress to Uphold California Privacy Law

  • By Sara Friedman
  • 09/11/19

Common Sense wants lawmakers on Capitol Hill to reject a call from tech giants to preempt state laws that put privacy-related restrictions on the data that they collect.

"All eyes are on California when it comes to data privacy. California legislators did right by kids, families and consumers by keeping the law which goes into effect in 2020 largely intact. It's no surprise that after failing to gut the California Consumer Privacy Act tech giants are now rallying Congress to pass a federal law to preempt it," said Common Sense CEO James Steyer in a statement.

More than 50 CEOs, who are members of the CEO group Business Roundtable, sent a letter to leaders in Congress on Sept. 10 asking for a "comprehensive" federal law that would allow "new services to flourish within a well-understood legal and regulatory framework."  

The CEO group also submitted a proposed federal framework to put the responsibility of creating "robust regulations" for collection, use and sharing of personal data in the hands of the companies.

According to Steyer, Common Sense is going to urge California lawmakers to strengthen the law next year by putting "limitations on first-party data use and ensuring sufficient regulatory supports are in place to protect consumers in the vast 21st century data economy."

About the Author

Sara Friedman is a reporter/producer for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe covering education policy and a wide range of other public-sector IT topics.

Friedman is a graduate of Ithaca College, where she studied journalism, politics and international communications.

Friedman can be contacted at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @SaraEFriedman.

Click here for previous articles by Friedman.


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