Proposition 24 Weakens Privacy Protections; Opposition Grows Rapidly: Californians for Real Privacy

SAN MATEO, Calif., July 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Since Proposition 24 qualified for the California ballot at the end of June, a rapidly growing coalition of consumer, privacy and social justice advocates has emerged to oppose the November ballot measure.

Proposition 24 opponents to date include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of California, Color of Change, Consumer Federation of California, California Alliance for Retired Americans, labor and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, TURN – The Utility Reform Network, Older Women's League of Sacramento, Oakland Privacy, Public Citizen, Media Alliance, Consumer Federation of America, Council on Islamic American Relations - California, and others.

In the official Ballot Argument Against Proposition 24, and the official Rebuttal to the Ballot Argument in Favor of Proposition 24, opponents point out the many flaws and reductions in privacy rights of California workers and consumers that are hidden in the ballot measure's 52 pages of fine print.  These include:

• Enshrining Pay for Privacy schemes, which would provide superior internet and online services for those who pay more to protect their confidential information, and inferior service for the rest of Californians.
  
  
• Postponing for additional years workers' and job applicants' right to know what personal non-job related confidential information employers collect on them. Under current law, workers get the right to know on January 1, 2021.
  
  
• Allowing tech companies to upload Californians' personal information the minute you travel outside the state's borders with a phone, device or computer. Under current California law, your privacy follows you wherever you go.
  
  
• Allowing tech companies to ignore a universal "do not sell my information" electronic signal that can be programmed once into a phone or web browser, which businesses must honor under current law. Instead Prop24 places an exhausting burden on consumers to notify each and every online business, website and app to not sell your information.

"No one reads the thousands of words of legal fine print that you have to "Accept" before you can use an app or visit a website. The fine print is where you sacrifice your privacy. The same is true of Proposition 24. Its 52 pages are full of privacy reductions and giveaways to Facebook, social media platforms and big tech companies that misuse our personal information," said Richard Holober, President of the Consumer Federation of California.  "Advocacy groups that fight for the rights of Californians have read Prop 24's fine print and that is why they oppose it."

Proposition 24's proponent and sole funder is an extremely rich landlord. While drafting the initiative, he rejected 38 suggestions that eleven privacy advocacy groups proposed to correct the measure's many reductions to privacy protections.

Opponents point out that Proposition 24 rewrites a new law that took effect this year, with enforcement beginning on July 1, 2020. Proposition 24 rewrites that law before we know what needs to be fixed. Smaller businesses that spent billions to adapt to the brand new law will be forced to spend vast sums once more at a time that an economic slowdown threatens the survival of many California businesses.

SOURCE Californians for Real Privacy - No on Proposition 24