Californians deserve privacy online. Unfortunately, Big Tech steals data from us every second we scroll through Facebook, Instagram, or the Daily Cal and sells that data for billions of dollars. It is time we take control of our data and privacy back — back to Californians.
That is why I support Prop 24, the California Privacy Rights Act, an initiative that will allow us to take greater control of our data and privacy. If this proposition passes, it will expand Californians’ abilities to prevent businesses from sharing personal information and take control of what rightfully belongs to us.
Proposition 24 will establish the California Privacy Protection Agency to enforce and implement consumer privacy laws and impose fines on Big Tech companies that violate privacy laws. It would reallocate this money to nonprofit organizations to advocate for greater consumer privacy rights.
What’s more, Proposition 24 puts money back in the hands of the people. If someone uses a social media platform or shops online, they can get some value from a business in exchange for providing their data. In my view, we should enforce those privacy rights and be compensated for what is rightfully ours — our data.
Prop 24 will put money back into newspapers, small businesses, and nonprofits and take away power from Big Tech and the data brokers that profit off our data. Additionally, Proposition 24 ensures that the free press will survive the coronavirus transition by enabling newspapers, such as the Daily Cal, to adopt business models and compete with foreign actors hoping to sow misinformation.
Other proposals do not match the effectiveness of Proposition 24. For example, alternatives would require online businesses to offer their services for free even if they do not have any alternative model to create revenue. This is unsustainable because, as we have seen for years, the user is the product if a service is free. A digital system like this would marginalize privacy and data rights for all communities — including Black and brown communities — and make it impossible to provide consumers with meaningful control over their information.
Most importantly, Proposition 24 provides Californians greater control of their data. If a Californian does not trust a business’s privacy protections, then consumers can tell that business that it can not sell their personal information. This framework is beneficial and generates control for the consumer.
On the whole, Proposition 24 creates a foundation for future data and privacy rights to come. It puts control in the hands of regular Californians, students, and ordinary people like us, where it should be.
