California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an investigative sweep targeting businesses that use surveillance pricing, which involves setting individualized prices based on consumer data. The Department of Justice is sending information request letters to companies in the retail, grocery, and hotel sectors to assess compliance with the CCPA's purpose limitation principle. This action seeks to ensure that consumers are not charged different prices without proper disclosure and that businesses adhere to privacy laws.
In-house legal teams should review vendor, customer, and data processing agreements with entities in the retail, grocery, and hotel sectors. Focus on clauses governing data usage restrictions, purpose limitation, disclosure requirements for price differentiation based on personal data, and consumer consent mechanisms. Specific attention should be given to whether contracts permit or restrict using consumer data (e.g., browsing history, location, demographics) to set individualized prices. Updates may be needed to explicitly prohibit undisclosed surveillance pricing, enhance transparency in privacy policies and contracts, and ensure robust opt-out rights aligned with CCPA's purpose limitation principle.
Entity
businesses with significant online presence in the retail, grocery, and hotel sectors
Also known as: Retail, Grocery, and Hotel Businesses
Industry
Retail"businesses with significant online presence in the retail, grocery, and hotel sectors"
"California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)"
"Surveillance pricing is the use of a consumer’s personal information to set targeted, individualized prices for a product or service."
"algorithmic pricing"
The California Privacy Protection Agency announced that the California State Legislature approved the Expanding Privacy Rights Act (SB 923), which expands the CCPA's right to delete to cover all non-exempt personal information a business holds about a consumer, including data originally collected from third parties. The bill also requires online-only businesses with a direct relationship to consumers to provide online methods, such as webforms, for submitting access, deletion, and correction requests, and expressly permits businesses to retain suppression lists so deleted information stays deleted. The bill, authored by Senator Becker and sponsored by CalPrivacy, now goes to the Governor for consideration.
A bipartisan coalition of 33 state attorneys general, led by Minnesota AG Keith Ellison, began trial against Meta Platforms, Inc., alleging the company knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Facebook and Instagram that drive children and teens to use the platforms compulsively, while falsely assuring parents and the public that its platforms were safe for young users. The states also allege Meta illegally collected personal information from children under 13 without parental consent, violating COPPA. The trial opened before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, with the states seeking monetary penalties and injunctive relief.
A coalition of 12 state attorneys general, led by Colorado AG Phil Weiser, obtained a temporary restraining order from a federal court in California to halt the proposed $110 billion merger of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. by Paramount Skydance Corporation. The lawsuit alleges the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act by substantially lessening competition in film distribution, anticipated blockbuster film distribution, and licensing cable TV channels.
The California Privacy Protection Agency (CalPrivacy) joined a coalition of 18 Attorneys General and state agencies in opposing the proposed SECURE Data Act, a federal privacy bill that would preempt stronger state privacy laws like the CCPA. The coalition argues the bill would weaken consumer privacy protections, limit enforcement remedies, and undermine California's Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP).
A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general began trial against Meta Platforms, Inc., alleging the company knowingly designed addictive features on Facebook and Instagram that harm children and teens, deceived parents about platform safety, and illegally collected personal information from children under 13 without parental consent in violation of COPPA. The states seek monetary penalties, an injunction to stop unlawful practices, and other relief. The trial is being litigated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
$12.8M
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with multiple district attorneys and the California Privacy Protection Agency, announced a $12.75 million settlement with General Motors for illegally selling hundreds of thousands of Californians' location and driving data to data brokers Verisk and LexisNexis without notice or consent. The settlement includes the largest CCPA penalty to date, a five-year ban on selling driving data to consumer reporting agencies, and requirements to delete retained data and implement a robust privacy program.