California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Jan. 27 that his office has begun an investigative sweep into businesses with mobile apps that are not in compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Targeted businesses have received letters.
Under the CCPA, California consumers have, among other rights, the right to opt-out of the sale of their personal data. The investigate sweep “focuses on popular apps in the retail, travel, and food service industries that allegedly fail to comply with consumer opt-out requests or do not offer any mechanism for consumers who want to stop the sale of their data,” the California AG’s office stated.
The sweep also focuses on businesses that “failed to process consumer requests submitted via an authorized agent, as required by the CCPA,” the California AG’s office added. “Requests submitted by authorized agents include those sent by Permission Slip, a mobile application developed by Consumer Reports that allows consumers to send requests to opt-out and delete their personal information.”
In a statement, Attorney General Bonta warned, “businesses must honor Californians’ right to opt out and delete personal information, including when those requests are made through an authorized agent.” He further urged those in the tech industry “to innovate for good, including developing and adopting user-enabled global privacy controls for mobile operating systems that allow consumers to stop apps from selling their data.” 
Jaclyn Jaeger is a contributing editor at Compliance Chief 360° and a freelance business writer based in Manchester, New Hampshire.