SACRAMENTO, Calif.,
Oct. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/
-- Proposition 24's anticipated harm to consumers, workers,
immigrants and small business has created an uncommon alliance of
opponents that spans the political spectrum.
Consumer, privacy and good government groups leading the
opposition include the ACLU, the League of Women Voters of
California, Consumer Federation of
California, the California
Alliance for Retired Americans, Consumer Action, Public Citizen,
Californians for Privacy Now and the Center for Digital
Democracy.
Prop 24's wealthy sponsor met behind closed doors with Facebook
and high tech lobbyists while he was drafting this so-called
"privacy" initiative.1 Tech companies are silent on Prop
24. The San Francisco Chronicle's editorial opposing Prop 24
concludes that tech giants do not consider Prop 24 a threat to
their privacy-invading practices.2
Consumer and privacy groups object to Proposition 24's approval
of Pay for Privacy schemes, its elimination of privacy rights when
Californians travel outside the state, and its changes to current
law that make it more cumbersome for consumers to stop corporations
from selling their confidential personal data.
Advocates for vulnerable communities are alarmed that
Proposition 24 will create privacy haves and have-nots. Millions of
Californians who are struggling during a pandemic and high
unemployment cannot afford to pay more to secure their privacy.
They will be forced to choose between good online connections
without privacy, or inferior internet access if they assert their
privacy rights. Prop 24 also omits immigration status as a
category of confidential information, and it eliminates the right
of individuals to delete information posted on Facebook or other
social media platforms, which exposes immigrants to greater risk of
intimidation and deportation.
Color of Change, labor and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, The Coalition for Humane
Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, the
California Environmental Justice Alliance and other advocates for
low income persons, immigrants and communities of color oppose Prop
24.
Unions opposing Prop 24 include the California Nurses
Association and Communications Workers of America District 9,
AFL-CIO. Prop 24 delays the right of workers to find out what
personal information unrelated to work performance employers are
secretly collecting.
At the same time, Prop 24 is a costly burden on small business.
Businesses are already spending as much as $55 billion to comply with a new privacy law that
became fully operational on July 1,
2020, according to a report released by the California
Department of Finance.3 It is too early to know how well
this brand new privacy law is working and what needs to be fixed.
Prop 24 will impose a new round of compliance costs at a time that
many smaller businesses are barely surviving a severe economic
downturn. The California Small Business Association, the Orange
County Business Council, Chambers of Commerce in Riverside, San Luis
Obispo, and West
Sacramento, and other small business groups oppose Prop 24.
The San Diego Union-Tribune's editorial opposing Prop 24
states "It's too soon to redo California's current internet privacy
law."4
Big tech companies are likely to gain an unfair advantage, as
Prop 24's costs are a handicap to any potential new competition.
The Orange County Register's editorial opposing Prop 24
notes that "Never again will tech giants be threatened by a
start-up company in somebody's garage."5
Also uniting this diverse coalition of Prop 24 opponents are
grave concerns with its restrictions that make it next impossible
for lawmakers to correct its flaws or to strengthen privacy rights.
This concern is echoed by legal scholars6 and editorials
opposing Prop 24 in the San Jose Mercury News7,
the Bakersfield Californian8 and other daily
newspapers. Consumer Reports wrote that Prop 24 "is designed
to calcify a particular (and relatively weak) mode of privacy
protection."9
Learn more at www.prop24no.org
1 https://www.protocol.com/inside-california-privacy-law-redo
2 https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Chronicle-recommends-Vote-no-on-Prop-24-a-15598736.php
3 https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/05/california-consumer-privacy-act-ccpa-could-cost-companies-55-billion.
4 https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/editorials/story/2020-10-15/vote-no-on-prop-24-california-internet-privacy-election-2020
5
https://www.ocregister.com/?returnUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ocregister.com%2F2020%2F08%2F20%2Fno-proposition-24-an-overly-complicated-and-misguided-measure%2F%3FclearUserState%3Dtrue
6 https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Prop-24-is-the-wrong-policy-approach-at-the-15648771.php
7 https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/15/editorial-prop-24-privacy/
8 https://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/our-view-endorsement-prop-24-vote-no-on-confusing-consumer-protection/article_34c512fa-ebd0-11ea-97b8-67f69d9e7e0d.html
9 https://iapp.org/news/a/cpra-promises-short-term-consumer-benefits-long-term-uncertainty/
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SOURCE Californians for Real Privacy - No on Proposition 24