What Is the CCPA? California Privacy Law Requirements

About the California Consumer Privacy Act

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a law that applies to companies of any nationality that do business in California and either (1) have worldwide revenue of more than USD 25 million or (2) collect personal information from 50,000 or more California residents or devices.

"Personal information" includes any information that can be used to identify an individual or household residing in California. Examples include names, phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, and cookie identifiers that make it possible to identify an individual. The CCPA refers to California residents as "consumers."

The CCPA requires companies to grant consumers certain "privacy rights," similar to those that the EU (European Union) GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) grants to individuals in the EU.

CCPA Requirements

Companies subject to the CCPA must comply with the following requirements.

1. Grant consumers the right to opt out of the sale of their personal information.

When a consumer exercises this right, it is called a "Do Not Sell" request. Under the CCPA, the word "sell" does not necessarily mean only selling in exchange for money. It also includes passing information to a third party so that the third party can use it for its own purposes.

1. Grant consumers the right to request deletion of their personal information.

However, the CCPA provides exceptions to this right. Companies are not required to comply with a deletion request when the information is needed to comply with the law, identify errors, maintain security, provide services to customers, or for reasonably anticipated internal uses (such as financial reporting or product improvement). Companies must verify the consumer's identity before deleting an individual's information.

1. Grant consumers the right to receive a copy of the personal information held about them.

Companies must verify the consumer's identity before providing a copy of an individual's information.

1. Update the privacy policy to explain the three rights above to consumers and how they can exercise those rights.
2. Provide consumers with multiple options for exercising their rights under the CCPA.
3. Companies must set up an interactive web form (see a sample web form here). However, this is required only for companies that "sell" information.
4. Companies must set up a toll-free number for use within the United States (for example, +1-866-467-8688). To try our "CCPA Toll Free" service from Japan, call "+1-(646) 798-4104" and, following the automated voice prompts, enter "1#" as the "service code."
5. Companies must place a link on their homepage titled "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" that leads to the interactive web form above. However, this is required only for companies that "sell" information.

Benefits of "CCPA Toll Free" for Your Business

The "CCPA Toll Free" solution is available starting at USD 59 per month for small businesses and USD 1,500 per year for large businesses, and offers the following features.

• Use access to the toll-free number "+1-866-I-OPT-OUT (or +1-866-467-8688)," or set up your own dedicated toll-free number.

• Our toll-free number can be set up instantly. Automated voice prompts are configured by default and can be freely customized to match your brand.

• Choose to embed an interactive web form for managing privacy requests in your privacy policy (see an example here) or leave it to us (see an example of that page here).

• Get a solution for the "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link on your homepage.

• Get a secure dashboard for checking telephone and web form requests. Its features include tools for tracking and demonstrating your CCPA compliance status.

• Receive email notifications when a request arrives and when a deadline is approaching. We will let you know about requests without you having to log into the dashboard to check.

• Enterprise-grade encryption, single sign-on (SSO), and two-factor authentication are used.

"CCPA Toll Free" Customers

Our services are used by many public and private companies based in the United States and Japan, including ORIX Corporation, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, 7-Eleven, and Kikkoman Corporation. We would be delighted to serve your company as well. For more information, please contact sales@optacy.com.