The More You Know: What Is The CCPA And What it Means For Consumer Privacy

What is the CCPA?

CCPA stands for the California Consumer Privacy Act. The CCPA is a California law that will go into effect on January 1, 2020. The law’s goal is to enhance the privacy rights of California residents with regards to the personal information that companies collect. You can read the full text of the CCPA here.


What does the CCPA do?

In a nutshell, the CCPA provides California residents the right to see, delete, and restrict the sale of their personal information that is collected by companies.


How does the CCPA define personal information?

The CCPA defines personal information as “information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.” Examples include, but are not limited to, a real name, address, IP address, email address, account names, phone number, social security number, credit card numbers, driver’s license number, and passport number.


What companies does the CCPA apply to?|

The CCPA applies to businesses operating in California that collect and sell consumers’ personal information or disclose personal data for a business purpose.  


So you don’t live in California. Are there other U.S. federal or state laws on consumer data privacy that are stronger than the CCPA?

The CCPA is the first U.S. federal or state law requiring companies to provide this right to consumers. The federal government has not enacted a federal privacy law, so California’s law represents the most stringent privacy rules enacted to date within the United States.


But you’ve heard about another privacy regulation called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). What is the difference between the CCPA and GDPR?

The GDPR focuses on data collected from consumers in the European Union. The CCPA focuses on data collected from consumers in California.  


Is Starry complying with the CCPA?

Yes. Starry updated its privacy policy in November 2019 to comply with the CCPA. Our updated policy enhances Starry’s pre-existing policies, which commit to minimizing consumer data collection, being transparent about what information is collected, why it is collected and how it is used, and importantly, obtaining consumer consent to collect information. Implementing CCPA requirements will give all Starry’s subscribers nationwide - not just in California - the right to see, delete, and restrict access to personal information collected by Starry. You can read more on why we think this is the right thing to do for all consumers here.