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Can I avoid tracking unique users or website visitors in California? What are the requirements?
Internet Privacy Requirements in California
If you operate a commercial website or online service that collects personally identifiable information (PII) through the internet about individual consumers residing in California who use or visit your website, you must comply with the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) [2.1].
Under CalOPPA, you must conspicuously post your privacy policy on your website or make it available in accordance with paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 22577. Your privacy policy must identify the categories of PII that you collect through the website or online service about individual consumers who use or visit your commercial website or online service and the categories of third-party persons or entities with whom you may share that PII. Additionally, if you maintain a process for an individual consumer who uses or visits your commercial website or online service to review and request changes to any of his or her PII that is collected through the website or online service, you must provide a description of that process. You must also describe the process by which you notify consumers who use or visit your commercial website or online service of material changes to your privacy policy for that website or online service. Finally, you must disclose how you respond to Web browser “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that provide consumers the ability to exercise choice regarding the collection of PII about an individual consumer’s online activities over time and across third-party websites or online services, if you engage in that collection [2.1].
Can I avoid tracking unique users or website visitors in California?
If you collect personally identifiable information (PII) through your website or online service about individual consumers residing in California who use or visit your website, you must comply with the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) [2.1]. However, CalOPPA does not require you to track unique users or website visitors. If you choose to track unique users or website visitors, you must disclose how you respond to Web browser “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that provide consumers the ability to exercise choice regarding the collection of PII about an individual consumer’s online activities over time and across third-party websites or online services, if you engage in that collection [2.1].
If you are a licensee in California, you must use the track-and-trace system to document the receipt of provisioned and distributed unique identifiers (UIDs) within three (3) calendar days of physical receipt of the UIDs by the licensee [1.2]. However, this requirement is specific to the cannabis industry and does not apply to tracking unique users or website visitors.
Therefore, you can avoid tracking unique users or website visitors in California, but if you choose to do so, you must disclose how you respond to Web browser “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that provide consumers the ability to exercise choice regarding the collection of PII about an individual consumer’s online activities over time and across third-party websites or online services, if you engage in that collection [2.1].
Source(s):
Jurisdiction
California