SACRAMENTO — A state senator said she will resurrect privacy legislation on Thursday to limit what information online retailers such as Apple Inc. can collect and store about their customers.
Senate Bill 383 stalled in the Legislature last summer amid heavy opposition from tech groups and the retail lobby. But author Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, said Wednesday that she's bringing a narrowed version of the bill to the full Senate with the hope that a recent wave of highly publicized data breaches will motivate fellow legislators to pass it before a procedural deadline on Friday.
"Those kinds of breaches remind us, from all socioeconomic levels, just how vulnerable we can be to theft and privacy violations unless we remain vigilant and make privacy a priority," Jackson told reporters.
The bill stems from a 2013 ruling by the California Supreme Court in Apple Inc. v. Superior Court (Krescent). A four-justice majority found that a state law limiting what data brick-and-mortar stores can do with customers' personal information obtained during credit card transactions does not apply to online retailers.
"This has left millions of Californians exposed to the risk of having their information sold for marketing purposes without their permission, frequently without their knowledge and consent, and have made them increasingly vulnerable to fraud, identity theft and other criminal activity," Jackson said.
SB 383 would still allow online merchants to collect consumer data, but only if that information is necessary to combat fraud or identity theft. The information cannot be sold or used for marketing purposes, and the e-retailer must dispose of it when it's no longer needed.
Jackson amended the bill this week so it now applies only to businesses, like Apple's iTunes, that sell "downloadable" products such as music and e-books. It would also specifically allow a company to store that information while an investigation into possible fraud takes place. And it would allow customers to opt-in to sharing their personal data with the company.
But the changes have not attracted new support from tech and business groups. Representatives of the California Chamber of Commerce, TechAmerica and TechNet confirmed Wednesday that those lobbies still oppose SB 383.
John Doherty, TechNet's vice president of state policy and politics, said that the bill would still make it more difficult for companies to combat fraud and that it unfairly singles out a particular consumer transaction.
SB 383 is supported by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the Consumer Federation of California and Consumer Action.
If approved by the Senate, SB 383 will move to the Assembly for consideration.
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