Understanding New Cookie Privacy Laws

Beginning this year, the way your website collects, stores, and shares data could have repercussions. With new cookie privacy laws designed to protect the consumer, businesses everywhere are faced to abide by these new laws or face potential fines. 

Continue reading to learn more about what cookies are, the Cookie policy law, what it means for your business, and what steps to take. 

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient. They store pages users click on and they also track whether or not users are signed in to the site. Cookies have become an essential part of all web browsing experiences.
Alternatively, cookies do not collect personal data such as saved photos, bank information, or personal contacts.

What is the Cookie Law?

Simply put, the Cookie Law is a piece of privacy legislation that requires websites to get consent from visitors to store or retrieve any information on a computer, smartphone or tablet.

The Cookie Law was designed to protect the privacy of online users by making consumers aware of how information about them is collected and used online. 

What is the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)?

Derived from the European Unions’ General Data Protection Regulation, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). CCPA was drafted to give California residents more information and control over how their personal information is being used. It creates new consumer rights including the access to, deletion of, and sharing of personal information that businesses collect from California residents. 

What the CCPA means for your business

In essence, companies who meet the qualifications below are required to provide notice to consumers at or before data collection. Businesses must place information on the homepage of their business website, typically in the form of a banner.

Currently, CCPA applies to the following businesses:
•    Annual gross revenues of twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) or more 
•    Derives fifty percent of more of its annual revenues from selling consumers’ personal information
•    Buys, receives, or sells the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices

Chances are you have a consumer or customer in California, but even if you don’t, your business should still highly consider establishing both a privacy policy statement and a cookie banner on your website. Experts anticipate that many other states will begin rolling out their own version of the privacy law complete with stipulations different from CCPA. In fact, Nevada already has already enacted a cookie privacy bill and Maine is currently working to pass a bill.  

CCPA is likely just the beginning of more privacy protection laws to come and compliance is critical if you don’t want to be hit with a fine. If your business falls within CCPA guidelines, let WebRevelation help you with the complexities of establishing a plan of action.

WebRevelation is a full-service website development company. With over a decade of experience, we design custom websites and applications tailored to your business needs. Contact us today at 817-283-3324 for a complimentary consultation or complete this form.

******Disclaimer: The purpose of this article is to share the privacy law information as we know it. WebRevelation is not a legal firm and is not claiming to provide legal advice. For a full explanation of the California Consumer Privacy Act check this out.