Tag: Data Security

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YOUTUBE

Understanding CPRA: A Guide for Beginners

Understanding CPRA: A Guide for Beginners

The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) is a data privacy law that was passed in California in November 2020 as an extension and expansion of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

The CPRA introduces new privacy rights for consumers and additional obligations for businesses. The law is expected to go into effect on January 1, 2023.

Why Do We Need CPRA?

The CPRA came about to address some of the shortcomings of the CCPA and to provide Californians with more control over their personal data.

It aims to bring California’s data protection regulations more in line with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

CPRA strengthens the rights of consumers and introduces stricter obligations for businesses in handling personal data, thereby improving overall data protection.

How Does CPRA Affect Me?

If you’re a California resident, the CPRA offers you extended data protection rights. These include the right to correct inaccurate personal data, the right to opt out of automated decision-making technology in certain cases, and stronger protections for sensitive personal information.

If you’re a business that collects, processes, or sells the personal data of California residents and meets certain thresholds, you need to comply with the CPRA. It’s important to note that these obligations apply regardless of where your business is located, so long as you handle the data of California residents.

How Can I Stay Safe and Compliant?

If you’re a California resident, you should familiarize yourself with the new rights introduced by the CPRA. Ensure you exercise your data protection rights and be careful when providing personal data online.

If you’re a business, here are the steps you need to take to comply with the CPRA:

  1. Understand the scope of the CPRA: The CPRA introduces several new rights and obligations, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with them.
  2. Review and update your privacy policy: Make sure your privacy policy is up-to-date and clearly explains how you collect, use, and share personal data.
  3. Implement secure data practices: The CPRA requires businesses to implement reasonable security procedures and practices to protect personal data.
  4. Develop a process to respond to consumer rights requests: The CPRA strengthens consumer rights, including the right to access, delete, and correct their data. Businesses must be able to efficiently and effectively respond to these requests.
  5. Stay updated: The CPRA also establishes a new enforcement agency, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA). Businesses should monitor updates from the CPPA for any changes to the regulations.

In Conclusion

The CPRA represents a significant step forward in the protection of consumer data rights in the United States. Whether you’re a consumer seeking to protect your personal data or a business needing to comply with these new regulations, understanding the CPRA and its implications is crucial.

CPRA FAQs for Beginners

  1. Q: Who does CPRA apply to?A: The CPRA applies to for-profit businesses that collect and process personal data of California residents and meet certain thresholds. This includes businesses with gross revenues over $25 million, those that buy, sell or share the personal information of 100,000 or more California residents or households, and those that derive 50% or more of their annual revenue from selling or sharing consumers’ personal information.
  2. Q: What types of personal data does CPRA protect?A: The CPRA protects personal information which is defined as information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.
  3. Q: What are the penalties for non-compliance with CPRA?A: Under the CPRA, fines for violations involving minors under the age of 16 are tripled. For other violations, the California Attorney General can impose penalties up to $7,500 per violation.
  4. Q: What’s new in CPRA compared to CCPA?A: The CPRA introduces several new provisions, such as the creation of a dedicated enforcement agency (the CPPA), rights to correction, stronger rights to opt out of targeted advertising, and stricter consent requirements for sensitive personal information.
  5. Q: When does CPRA go into effect?A: The CPRA is expected to go into effect on January 1, 2023.
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SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS

Understanding COPPA: A Guide for Beginners

Understanding COPPA: A Guide for Beginners

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a United States federal law, passed in 1998 and effective from April 2000. This law is administered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

COPPA is designed to protect the online privacy of children under the age of 13 by providing parents with control over what information websites and online services can collect from their children.

Why Do We Need COPPA?

As the internet evolved, it became clear that children were engaging with various websites and services, often providing personal information.

There were concerns about the safety of this information and how it could be used without parental consent. COPPA was thus introduced to ensure that parents are given control over the information collected from their children online.

This law provides a safeguard, ensuring that such data cannot be collected without explicit parental consent.

How Does COPPA Affect Me?

If you’re a parent or guardian of a child under 13 in the U.S., COPPA gives you control over your child’s personal information. It allows you to prevent websites and online services from collecting your child’s personal information without your permission.

If you’re a website owner or operator, or an online service provider whose services are directed to children under 13 or have actual knowledge that you are collecting personal information from children under 13, you need to comply with COPPA.

This includes getting parental consent before collecting, using, or disclosing such information.

Understanding COPPA: A Guide for Beginners 1

How Can I Stay Safe and Compliant?

If you’re a parent, make sure to educate your child about the importance of not giving away personal information online. Also, regularly monitor the websites and online services your child uses and give consent only if you deem it safe.

If you’re a website owner, online service provider, or an app developer, here are the steps you need to take to comply with COPPA:

  1. Post a clear and comprehensive privacy policy on your website describing your practices regarding the collection and use of personal information from children under 13.
  2. Provide direct notice to parents and obtain verifiable parental consent, with limited exceptions, before collecting personal information from children.
  3. Provide a reasonable means for a parent to review the personal information collected from a child and to refuse to permit its further use.
  4. Establish and maintain reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the personal information collected from children.
  5. Retain personal information collected online from a child for only as long as is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected and delete the information using reasonable measures to protect against its unauthorized access or use.
  6. Do not condition a child’s participation in online activities on the child providing more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in that activity.Notable COPPA Violations and Fines
    Company Year Fine (USD)
    TikTok (previously Musical.ly) 2019 5,700,000
    YouTube & Google 2019 170,000,000

The TikTok fine was for collecting personal information from children without parental consent. YouTube & Google’s fine was for collecting data from children without parental consent and for making targeted ads towards children.

Please note that the FTC regularly reviews and updates its rules and regulations to ensure the safety of children online, so it’s crucial to stay updated with the most recent guidelines from the FTC’s official website.

In Conclusion

The COPPA is crucial in today’s digital age to protect children and give control to parents over their child’s online information. By understanding COPPA, its purpose, and its requirements, you can ensure to comply with the law and provide a safe environment for children online.

COPPA FAQs for Beginners

  1. Q: Who does COPPA apply to?A: COPPA applies to operators of commercial websites and online services, including mobile apps, that are directed to children under 13 and collect, use, or disclose personal information from children.
  2. Q: What types of personal information does COPPA protect?A: COPPA protects personal information like full name, home or email address, telephone number, Social Security number. It also protects other types of information like hobbies, interests, and information collected through cookies or other types of tracking mechanisms when they are tied to individually identifiable information.
  3. Q: How does COPPA define an “operator”?A: Under COPPA, an operator is anyone who operates a website or online service and collects personal information from children, or on whose behalf such information is collected and maintained.
  4. Q: What is ‘verifiable parental consent’ under COPPA?A: Verifiable parental consent is any reasonable effort, taking into consideration available technology, to ensure that a parent of a child receives notice of the operator’s personal information collection, use, and disclosure practices, and authorizes the collection, use, and disclosure, as applicable, of personal information and the subsequent use of that information before that information is collected from that child.
  5. Q: What are the penalties for non-compliance with COPPA?A: The FTC is authorized to bring legal actions and impose penalties up to $43,792 per violation.