Compliance & Regulations:
What Is CCPA?
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), gives California residents rights to know, access, delete, and correct personal information, and to opt out of its sale or sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising. It requires businesses to disclose uses, honor signals like GPC, secure data, and limit use of sensitive information.
Short answer: CCPA is California’s data privacy law. If you meet certain thresholds (revenue, data volumes, or data sales/sharing), you must provide notices; honor access, deletion, correction, and opt-out/opt-in (for minors) requests; enable a “Do Not Sell or Share” choice and respect Global Privacy Control (GPC); limit the use of sensitive personal information; sign contracts with service providers; secure data; and respond to consumer requests within 45 days (extensions allowed).
Core Principles Of CCPA/CPRA Compliance
CCPA/CPRA Compliance Playbook
A practical sequence to operationalize notices, rights, signals, vendor controls, and security.
Step-By-Step
- Confirm applicability — Test against thresholds (revenue, personal info counts, selling/sharing, or deriving 50%+ revenue from data sales).
- Map collection & uses — Inventory data categories, sources, purposes, disclosures, retention, and “selling/sharing” flows.
- Publish notices — Update privacy policy, notice at collection, retention periods, and disclosures about selling/sharing and sensitive data.
- Enable consumer requests — Provide at least two methods (web form, toll-free, etc.), verify identity, and respond within 45 days.
- Honor opt-out & GPC — Implement “Do Not Sell or Share” controls and respect browser-based signals without extra friction.
- Sensitive data limits — Provide “Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information” where required; minimize and purpose-bind.
- Vendor governance — Execute CPRA-compliant contracts with service providers/contractors; restrict cross-context use and combining.
- Security & minimization — Apply access control, encryption, logging, and data minimization; test incident response plans.
- Children’s data — Obtain opt-in to sell/share for ages under 16 (parental consent under 13); document age-gate processes.
- Training & audits — Train staff handling requests; review metrics, retention schedules, and update records of processing.
Key CCPA/CPRA Rights: What They Require
| Right | Who It Applies To | Business Obligations | Timeframe | Common Pitfalls | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Know & Access | California residents | Disclose categories/specific pieces, purposes, recipients, retention | 45 days (extend +45) | Incomplete data maps; missing retention | Provide data report via secure portal |
| Delete | Upon verifiable request | Delete and flow-down to service providers/contractors | 45 days (extend +45) | Not propagating deletes; overbroad exceptions | Erase profile while retaining fraud logs |
| Correct | Inaccurate personal information | Update records; notify vendors where feasible | 45 days (extend +45) | No evidence of verification; partial updates | Fix misspelled name in CRM |
| Opt Out of Sell/Share | All consumers; opt-in for minors | Show link; honor GPC; block downstream sharing | Immediate upon signal | Ignoring GPC; dark patterns; partial coverage | Disable cross-context ads post-signal |
| Limit Sensitive PI Use | Where sensitive data is used beyond necessary | Provide limit link; purpose-bound; minimize | Prompt implementation | Over-collection; weak purpose definitions | Restrict precise geolocation analytics |
| Non-Discrimination | All consumers | No reduced service/price for exercising rights (with narrow exceptions) | Ongoing | Improper loyalty programs | Offer opt-in value-for-data with proper disclosures |
Client Snapshot: Signals To Scale
A nationwide retailer deployed full data mapping, added “Do Not Sell or Share” and “Limit Sensitive PI” controls, and implemented GPC recognition. Within two quarters, request fulfillment time dropped 38%, opt-out accuracy reached 99.4%, and audit exceptions were reduced to zero critical findings.
Treat privacy as a product feature: design for transparency, control, and security from the first touch to retention and deletion.
FAQ: Understanding CCPA/CPRA
Clear answers for legal, security, marketing, and operations teams.
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