Are you worried that your data is being sold out to third parties without you knowing about it? Well, before the CCPA came into effect, something like collected data being sold would happen without any customers ever knowing about it.
However, that’s not the case anymore. Now that the CCPA is active, businesses cannot sell, nor collect any data without first informing their customers.
So, the short answer is yes, data-collecting companies do sell personal data. But, what is the sale of personal data in the first place, and why do companies do it?
The Sale of Personal Data
Selling personal data refers to a business:
- Selling data
- Renting data
- Releasing data
- Transferring data
- Orally communicating data
- Transferring data in writing
- Transferring data through electronic means
Many businesses give data to other businesses and third parties. Why? For monetary value.
But, what even classifies as third parties? Here, we’ll show you:
Businesses and Third Parties
When talking about third parties, we are referring to businesses that did not originally collect personal data from customers.
There are a couple of reasons why this data is shared/sold. These reasons are:
- Businesses and third parties that want to improve the way they operate by learning more about potential customers
- Businesses and third parties that want to improve their marketing and advertisement strategies based on that data.
It’s very rare for businesses to want to use your personal data to harm you in any way. However, if you still want businesses to stop selling your data, that is something that is within your rights.
Customer Rights
The CCPA grants customers a lot of rights, such as:
- The right to know when their personal data is being collected and why
- The right to ask businesses to stop collecting their personal data and delete the data that businesses had already collected
- The right to not be discriminated against by any business for exercising their rights
- The right to opt-out from businesses selling personal data
Those rights apply to every single California resident. And, as we mentioned above, one of these rights includes you, the customer, wanting to opt-out of the sale of your personal data.
If you decide to do that, then businesses would have to comply. The only exception is if your data includes anything that can be used for legal purposes, investigations, or any other similar reasons.
Other than that, businesses have to comply. But, compliance isn’t problematic. If they didn’t keep data safe, then it would be. However, that is something that many businesses have already thought of.
Many businesses nowadays use BitLocker to encrypt data.BitLocker is, after all, the best and most convenient way to keep data encrypted and safe.
And, with BitTruster managing that encrypted data, what could go wrong? Nothing will. We, at BitTruster, are here to help you.
Keeping Data Safer and Bringing Success to Companies
Now, you’re all set! Data-collecting companies do indeed sell your personal data. But, they never do it with the intent to harm you. They collect data to improve your experience and their chances of success.
Plus, thanks to the CCPA, businesses can’t take advantage of the data they collect. Want to learn more about how the CCPA can help you? Click here and we’ll show you how.
CCPA keeps you and your data safer and helps companies be more successful!
