Andrew Yang takes lead in California data privacy measure

Yang is chairing the advisory board for Proposition 24, which he and other supporters see as a model for other states as the U.S.

The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 would expand the rights Californians were given to their personal data in a groundbreaking law approved two years ago, which took effect in January. It limited how companies gather personal data and make money from it and gave consumers the right to know what a company has collected and have it deleted, as well as the right to opt out of the sale of their personal information.

He began advocating for consumer privacy after a dinner party conversation with a Google employee who told him people would be shocked by how much the company knows about them.

To help research and draft the measure, Mactaggart said he hired Ashkan Soltani, former Federal Trade Commission chief technologist, and consulted with numerous other privacy experts.

The measure is supported by Common Sense Media and Consumer Watchdog, along with several privacy experts and labor organizations that say the measure will strengthen the law and protect it from industry attempts to dilute it.

Opponents include groups like the California Small Business Association, a handful of local chambers of commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business, which say it's too soon to rewrite the law.

Consumers could also opt out of data sharing and sales of private information about everything from their race and ethnicity to union membership or religion.

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