Consumer Reports submitted comments to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) in response to its proposed CCPA Updates, Cybersecurity Audits, Risk Assessments, Automated Decisionmaking Technology (ADMT), and Insurance Companies.
In previous comments, CR expressed concern that the scope of the proposed ADMT regulations was too limited and that the ambiguity in terms like “key factor”—combined with businesses’ strong incentive to interpret the rules as narrowly as possible—would result in companies withholding information on ADMT that shape consumers’ life opportunities. Unfortunately, the May draft narrows the scope much further. Several other revisions remove due diligence requirements for companies and provisions that would make it easier for consumers to exercise their rights.
This direction is particularly concerning given the sustained engagement from privacy, labor, and other civil society advocates, many of whom have offered specific recommendations to strengthen transparency and accountability in the use of ADMT. The May draft—if adopted—will result in fewer Californians gaining insight into how their personal data is being processed in consequential decisions, as compared to earlier drafts.
CR’s comments outline specific concerns with the May draft of the automated decisionmaking technology and risk assessment regulations, as well as suggestions for how the CPPA might better align the final rule with the statute’s consumer protection goals. They include:
- Revised definition of “automated decisionmaking technology” leaves many Californians unprotected
- Restore requirements for businesses to assess whether their physical or biological profiling is actually working, and whether it is discriminating.
- Remove trade secret protections for Pre-Use Notice and Right to Access
- Restore opt-out of behavioral advertising
- Restore reminder of Right to Access after adverse decisions
- Restore prohibition on processing if risks outweigh benefits and clarify that CPPA has the authority to contest business’ assessments of cost-benefit tradeoffs