Microsoft strong supporters of California’s version of GDPR privacy law

Microsoft has come out in “strong” support for the California Consumer Privacy Act, a bill that was introduced to give individuals more control over the collection and reselling of their personal data. The company has committed to supporting the new standards—which are set to take affect on January 1 of next year—across all fifty U.S. states. Julie Brill, Microsoft’s Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Vice President for Global Privacy and Regulatory Affairs, wrote in a blog post:

We are optimistic that the California Consumer Privacy Act — and the commitment we are making to extend its core rights more broadly — will help serve as a catalyst for even more comprehensive privacy legislation in the U.S. As important a milestone as CCPA is, more remains to be done to provide the protection and transparency needed to give people confidence that businesses respect the privacy of their personal information and can be trusted to use it appropriately.

For those unfamiliar, California’s new law—or CCPA for short—is the state’s new bill that brings new guidelines for consumer privacy. As part of the new act, companies will be required to be transparent about the data they collect and to whom it’s sold to. Additionally, consumers should be able to reject consent of the resale of their personal data, and even request their information to be completely deleted.

In addition to committing to providing more tools to help consumers understand and control their data, the company says it will work with enterprises to help them comply with California’s new law.

Microsoft’s commitment to complying with the CCPA in every state is similar to how it committed to following the EU’s GDPR guidelines outside of Europe. The U.S. Congress has been pretty quiet on consumer privacy issues, so the company’s commitments on its privacy tools should help both consumers feel better about their data as well as businesses in providing consumer privacy reassurance.

What do you think of Microsoft’s stance on consumer privacy? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.