Inside the lobbying war over California’s landmark privacy law

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A landmark law adopted in California in 2018 to rein in the data-collection practices of Facebook, Google and other tech giants has touched off a lobbying blitz that could water it down, potentially undermining new protections that might apply to Internet users across the country. The fight between regulation-wary businesses and privacy watchdogs centers on CA's first-in-the-nation online privacy rules, known as the California Consumer Privacy Act. The law, which other states are now trying to mimic, is set to grant people the power to learn what information is collected about them and block it from being sold, while promising tough punishments for companies that mishandle consumers’ most sensitive data. “People will recognize who’s supposed to be protecting them because right now, [it’s] no one — there’s nobody,” said CA Attorney General Xavier Becerra, whose role overseeing the new law will make him one of the country’s top privacy enforcers.


Inside the lobbying war over California’s landmark privacy law