CCPA: What is the value of your personal information?

On October 11, 2019, the California Attorney General released the long-awaited California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) proposed regulations. There are a number of interesting provisions in the rules, but businesses will likely have difficulty complying with § 999.307(b)(5).

Under the CCPA, a business may not discriminate with regard to pricing, products or services based on a consumer’s choice to opt-out of allowing the business to sell their personal information. However, a business may vary pricing so long as the price difference is based on the value of the consumer’s personal data. The proposed regulations require a business to explain the incentive or difference in price by providing the following:

• A good-faith estimate of the value of the consumer’s data that forms the basis for offering the financial incentive or price or service difference
• A description of the method the business used to calculate the value of the consumer’s data

These proposed regulations are subject to a verbal and written comment period, which closes on December 6, 2019, and the rules will likely be revised to reflect the feedback received. The CCPA will take effect on January 1, 2020, and enforcement by the attorney general will take place six months after the final implementing regulations are published or on July 1, 2020, whichever takes place first. The implementation of these rules will likely pose challenges for businesses, assuming the regulations are enacted in a similar form.

For more information about the CCPA, read an in-depth article here.