Tresorit Backs Privacy for All to Strengthen CCPA
As data scandals featuring big tech giants keep hitting the headlines, people are becoming increasingly conscious of the privacy and security of their data online. At the same time, governments are also starting to take the new challenges brought by the digital age seriously.
In 2016, the EU made an essential step by adopting the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which significantly strengthens citizens’ fundamental rights online. Those who predicted that the EU would set global privacy standards with the GDPR seem to have been proven right; in June 2018, Governor Brown signed into law one of the strictest and farthest-reaching consumer privacy laws in the US, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), while Brazil adopted its GDPR-like data protection legislation in August 2018.
What is the CCPA?
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which goes into effect in 2020, gives residents more rights over their personal information. The CCPA creates four basic rights for Californian consumers:
- The right to know what personal information a business has about them and where (by category) that personal information came from or was sent.
- The right to delete personal information that a business collected from them.
- The right to opt-out of sale of personal information about them.
- The right to receive equal service and pricing from a business, even if they exercise their privacy rights under the Act, but with significant exceptions.
About the open letter
As we value privacy as a fundamental right, we decided to partner with other privacy-conscious companies to support the law and to make it even stronger. That’s why we sent a letter to the California Assembly’s Privacy Committee backing an amendment to CCPA, proposed by Assembly member Buffy Wicks together with privacy groups (including EFF, ACLU of California, Common Sense Kids Action, Consumer Reports, and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse).
The amendment, entitled the Privacy for All Act of 2019, extends CCPA personal information rights even further, including giving the possibility to consumers to opt-out of having information shared (not just sold), giving them the ability to sue companies for violations and more.
Our joint effort in support of this amendment demonstrates that privacy is good for businesses and encourages governments to grant citizens more rights over their data as well as the fundamental right of privacy online.
The letter
April 16, 2019
Dear Assemblymember Chau,
We are pleased to support A.B. 1760, sponsored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, as a vital addition to privacy protections in the state of California. We thank you for your commitment to the essential area of privacy, and your crucial role in the passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) last year.
We are a broad coalition of for-profit companies that share that privacy commitment and support the CCPA. All of us have California customers and we are currently subject to CCPA’s requirements or may be subject to them in the foreseeable future. As companies that put user privacy at the core of our products and services, we also support legislation that builds on CCPA’s foundation. Our relationship with our users is built on trust—trust that the data they provide to us and other companies will be used only in the ways they understand and expect.
A.B. 1760 holds all covered companies to that standard and makes sure that Californians’ information is protected by default. It will give all Californians the knowledge and power to truly control their personal information, as well as the ability to practically exercise and legally enforce their privacy rights, all without being punished with higher prices or degraded service.
We appreciate and support your committee’s important efforts to provide all Californians with the privacy rights they want and deserve. Thank you again for your leadership on this important issue.
Sincerely,
Duck Duck Go, Inc.
Gabriel Weinberg, Founder and CEO
Brave Software Inc.
Dr. Johnny Ryan, Chief Policy & Industry Relations Officer
Ghostery, Inc.
Jeremy Tillman, President
Disconnect, Inc.
Casey Oppenheim, CEO
Vivaldi Technologies LLC
Tatsuki Tomita, Chief Operating Officer
Tresorit AG
Istvan Lam, Co-Founder & CEO
Lavabit LLC
Richard Delgado, COO
Fastmail Pty Ltd
Bron Gondwana, CEO
Fastmail US LLC
Helen Horstmann-Allen, COO
Ecosia GmbH
Christian Kroll, CEO & Founder
Mycroft AI Inc.
Eric Jurgeson, Vice-President
Purism, SPC
Todd Weaver, CEO
Discourse, aka Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
Jeff Atwood, CEO
Shiny Frog Limited, aka Bear
Matteo Rattotti, Founder
Sgrouples, Inc. dba “MeWe”
Mark Weinstein, Founder & CEO
Whaller SAS
Thomas Fauré, CEO
Tutao GmbH, aka Tutanota
Matthias Pfau, Co-Founder
Snips SAS
Dr. Rand Hindi, PhD
Co-Founder & CEO
Bit Chute Limited
Ray Vahey, Founder & CEO
Mailr Tech LLP, aka Canary Mail
Sohel Sanghani, CEO
Conva Ventures Inc., aka Fathom Analytics
Jack Ellis & Paul Jarvis, Directors
