Data Protection – 2020

I just had to take an exam for my current job, proving that I understand the new California Consumer Privacy Act. The new law requires CA companies to allow their customers to request what individual data is used, the ability to opt-out of data usage, and the ability to request that your personal information is deleted from their system.

This leaves me wondering; how does one know which companies are using their personal data? As some of you know, I was a victim of identity theft. A cashier at a Sprint Mobile store had the ability to use minimal information to apply for credit in my name. I was not, nor have I ever been a customer of Sprint. How would I know to request that Sprint deletes (or at the very minimum opt-out) my personal data?

We as consumers never explicitly gave Experian the right to our data, but our government gave them the ok to manage our data. This data hack was one of the U.S. most significant breaches, exposing over half of U.S. consumers to identify fraud.

So, although our laws are catching up to technology, we are not all the way there or entirely protected.

PS – our government allows ALL cellular carriers the right to our credit scores, etc, for ease of switching providers. Regardless of your knowledge or permission.

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