In recent years, businesses have faced increased pressure to comply with customer privacy regulations as consumers demand ownership over their valuable personal online data. California became the first state to set statewide privacy regulations with The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) that is set to be implemented on January 1, 2020. If your company hosts data from any California citizens — which likely applies to most U.S.-based companies — then you will have to comply.

California is likely the first state of many to implement these regulations, which comes on the heels of the GDPR, the European Union data privacy laws. The great debate of our time is how Big Data can provide useful services to you as a customer while maintaining the privacy of the individual. 

Consumers are aware that online data can be transformed into a precious commodity, and that it’s used without their consent. According to estimates in the Standardized Regulatory Impact Assessment for the CCPA regulations, the CCPA will protect more than $12 billion worth of personal information that’s used for advertising purposes in California each year. This law empowers citizens — so they can decide how much, what and when to share their information or their children’s information. 

WhoFi Privacy

WhoFi offers companies and governments the opportunity to make better, data-influenced decisions while respecting the privacy of its’ WiFi users. All WhoFi reports and statistics provided respect citizen privacy, and are generated without requiring or storing their personally-identifying information. Since our software was originally developed to anonymize user information, our company —and customers by extension — are already in compliance with CCPA.  We give you the answers you need to improve customer service experience and community engagement without compromising the integrity of the relationships you’ve built. Our fundamental belief in consumer privacy rights is why we support this law. 

Here’s what you need to know about CCPA.

What is the CCPA?

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was created to protect the privacy and data of consumers. The CCPA initiative requires businesses to tell consumers what data is being collected and for what purpose. And, most importantly, it gives consumers the right to opt-out and to sue companies if their personal data is breached.

The CCPA grants California consumers new data privacy rights that, we feel, should’ve been the standard originally.

• The right to know what personal information is collected about them. 
• The right to know how this personal information is used, shared or sold and to whom.
• The right to delete personal information held by businesses and by extension, a business’s service provider. 
• The right to opt-out of the sale of personal information. 
• The right to equal price or service even when a consumer exercises their new privacy rights granted under CCPA.
• Children under the age of 16 must have a parent or guardian consent. 

 To Whom Does CCPA Apply?

When it goes into effect in January 2020, businesses that meet one or more of the following thresholds must comply with the CCPA:  

• Annual gross revenues of $25 million or more.
• Buys, receives or sells the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households or devices.
• Derives 50 percent or more of its annual revenues from selling consumers’ personal information.
• Most companies in the United States have customers in California and will likely be required to comply if they want to continue to receive information from their California customers.

What Do Companies Need To Do To Comply With CCPA?

If your business meets one or more of the thresholds above, you must prepare to be in compliance with this law. Even if your business doesn’t meet those, it would be wise to take steps to be in compliance to gain consumer confidence. 

• Review and understand what personal information is collected by your business.
• Understand how personal information is collected, used, or sold; to whom and for what purpose. 
• Review internal policies and procedures regarding the collection of personal information and update internal and online privacy policies to comply.  
• Prepare policies and procedures to implement when a customer requests access to, deletion of or information related to the sale or disclosure of their personal information.
• Implement technological solutions that process requests by the customer to opt-out. 
• Review contracts with all service providers to ensure they protect the personal information provided by your business. 

How Can Big Data And Privacy Coexist?

WhoFi believes that with full encryption for all consumer data collected, both the company and the consumer benefit. Looking at data on a massive scale is what gives companies the best insight into consumer behaviors and patterns, not consumer identities. By one-way encrypting the data from the first consumer interaction all the way to analysis, the company can’t easily tie back the data to an individual but can gain large scale trend insights they need. 

WhoFi is pioneering the big data privacy movement with our anonymous location analytics technology that allows companies to see trends while maintaining consumer trust and privacy. Our analytics solution provides a detailed analysis of physical spaces and foot traffic, allowing businesses to make data-driven decisions while maintaining customer anonymity. 

Would you like to know more about how the WhoFi solution can benefit your company or government organization? Schedule a demo to see what our technology can do for you.