Whether it is Artificial Intelligence being used for more sophisticated uses in the medical industry or Internet of Things being utilised more heavily in consumer tech products, the rapid rise in technology that we are experiencing, called the Fourth Industrial Revolution, limitations are being introduced alongside these new achievements to regulate their functions and create a safe environment. The most recent example of this was in California when they released a set of rules to which the online news website, The Verge, has called “one of the toughest data privacy laws in the United States today”.

The law aims to make businesses in California disclose what personal information they actually store from their customers. It will make the handling of data a more transparent process even if it is an inconvenience for the business owners, who will also have to ask people’s consent for whether they want to opt in or out of having data sold.

The California Consumer Privacy Act is so rigid that even tech giants like Google and Facebook must adhere to it, or else accept the consequences. For now, this rule only applies to California but if this law proves to be effective, similar laws may start popping up across America and to further parts of the world. Though Europe specifically has its own set of rules that it is dealing with, GDPR.

Even though GDPR was officially implemented in all the way back in May, its effects are still being felt through business not just in the EU but businesses that have connections to the EU.

GDPR has a lot of similar points that the California Consumer Privacy Act holds in its ethics, namely requiring businesses give the option to opt in or out and stating what data is being collected. The California Consumer Privacy act is not set to be implemented until 2020, another similarity to GDPR, which gives people a good amount of time to change the procedures within their businesses, using these new considerations.

The similarities between the two set of rules are very clear, obviously their aims are the same, to help and protect consumers, even if it may inconvenience businesses. Customers have the right to know what is happening with their information, it also promotes trust and can adhere customers to a business. Besides, if businesses have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear.

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/28/17509720/california-consumer-privacy-act-legislation-law-vote

https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/03/europe-is-drawing-fresh-battle-lines-around-the-ethics-of-big-data/