California “Shine the Light” Law

What is the California “Shine the Light” Law

The California “Shine the Light” Law became part of the California Civil Code in 2005. Its main goal is to protect the sensitive information of any person who has shared their confidential data with an organization. If that business wants to share customer information it has obtained with other companies, it must do so in compliance with the California “Shine the Light” Law. All confidential information becomes the responsibility of the business that ‘owns’ that material. The law requires proper and safe storage, as well as the secure disposal of this information when it’s no longer relevant.

Who is subject to the California “Shine the Light” Law?

The law states that any company, who does business with California residents, has to provide a method for allowing customers to opt out of information sharing, or they must provide a detailed report of how personal information was used and shared for direct marketing purposes. The law is applicable to several businesses, except for companies with less than twenty employees, and federal financial institutions; these groups are exempt from the regulations under this law.

What are my Rights Under the California “Shine the Light” Law?

Consumers have the right to be informed by businesses of their rights under the statute by using a chosen contact point (mailing address, e-mail address, toll-free phone number or toll-free fax number) to ask a business’s disclosure in relation to how it shares personal information with other companies for direct marketing purposes.

Who does the California “Shine the Light” Law Protect?

The Shine the Light law was enacted in 2005 and was created to protect California consumers’ private information by requiring companies to reveal certain types of customer information they have shared with third-party organizations and the identities of those third-party businesses.

Why is the California “Shine the Light” Law Important?

This law is crucial because it is one of the first legislative efforts to address “list brokerage,” the compilation and sale of individuals’ personal information. List brokerage is used to start privacy invasive marketing campaigns, such as spamming, telemarketing, and junk mail. List brokers will collect personal information from several sources, including business transactions, warranty cards, and lastly, sweepstakes entries. In a lot of cases, businesses do not notify individuals of their information sales activities, and major companies will wind up selling their customer lists to list brokers. This law will help individuals by providing additional information on how their information is sold to others.

Where can I find more information about the California “Shine the Light” Law?

To learn more, visit this link: https://epic.org/privacy/profiling/sb27.html

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