Data Privacy: What Defines “Personal Information”

Weeks before new privacy rules go into effect, California AG is asking for significant changes to CCPA

California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra has proposed revisions to the regulations implementing the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The law itself went into effect on January 1, 2020 with an enforcement deadline of July 1st.

As in any piece of legislation and requirements, the devil is in the details. One of the key changes the CA AG wants has to do with the definition of what constitutes personal information — one of the key components of CCPA. The changes, according to the AG’s office, more clearly defines personal info as data that relates to a particular person. In other words, it’s OK to collect information as long as it’s not identifiable to an individual. Here’s the marked-up copy of the proposal.

Red = added language, Strikethrough = Deleted language

Public information was further defined later in the document:

You can read the full document with the proposed changes here or a summary of other key changes here.

The ad industry had previously requested a delay since the new regulations and enforcement documents aren’t technically “final.”