know your data privacy rights!
Unless you live under a rock, you have heard talk about data privacy and your rights as a consumer. This past year, in the US alone, companies ranging from cosmetics to pet care have been subject to data-privacy-related lawsuits. The biggest of which was Sephora, which had to pay fines of 1.2 million dollars for selling consumers' data without their consent.
As a consumer, you increasingly have more rights regarding how your data is bought and sold in the data market. In 2023 you will see a significant expansion of those rights as five states' laws: California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), The Colorado Privacy Act (CPA), The Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CTPDA), The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VDPA), and The Utah Consumer Privacy Act (UCPA), are set to take effect, and there is a clear commonality:
Consumers are entitled to more transparency and control over how their personal data is handled.
Here are some highlights of new rights afforded to you:
Right to correction means you can request to have your Personal and Sensitive Personal Information ('PI' and 'SPI') corrected if you find them inaccurate.
Right to opt-out of automated decision making, you can say no to your PI and SPI being used to make automated inferences, e.g. in profiling for targeted, behavioral advertisement online.
Right to know about automated decision making, you can request access to and know how automated decision technologies work and their probable outcomes.
Right to limit the use of Sensitive Personal Information, you can make businesses restrict their use of this category of personal data, particularly around third-party sharing, by choosing to opt out. In Virginia, Connecticut and Colorado, companies must receive explicit opt-in consent to collect or process your Sensitive Personal Information.
These are just some ways your rights are changing in 2023. As we advance, we are committed to educating you on your rights as a consumer, so stay tuned.
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