SECTIONS 22575-22579 - California Statutes

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE

SECTION 22575-22579

22575. (a) An operator of a commercial Web site or online service
that collects personally identifiable information through the
Internet about individual consumers residing in California who use or
visit its commercial Web site or online service shall conspicuously
post its privacy policy on its Web site, or in the case of an
operator of an online service, make that policy available in
accordance with paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 22577. An
operator shall be in violation of this subdivision only if the
operator fails to post its policy within 30 days after being notified
of noncompliance.
(b) The privacy policy required by subdivision (a) shall do all of
the following:
(1) Identify the categories of personally identifiable information
that the operator collects through the Web site or online service
about individual consumers who use or visit its commercial Web site
or online service and the categories of third-party persons or
entities with whom the operator may share that personally
identifiable information.
(2) If the operator maintains a process for an individual consumer
who uses or visits its commercial Web site or online service to
review and request changes to any of his or her personally
identifiable information that is collected through the Web site or
online service, provide a description of that process.
(3) Describe the process by which the operator notifies consumers
who use or visit its commercial Web site or online service of
material changes to the operator's privacy policy for that Web site
or online service.
(4) Identify its effective date.

22576. An operator of a commercial Web site or online service that
collects personally identifiable information through the Web site or
online service from individual consumers who use or visit the
commercial Web site or online service and who reside in California
shall be in violation of this section if the operator fails to comply
with the provisions of Section 22575 or with the provisions of its
posted privacy policy in either of the following ways:
(a) Knowingly and willfully.
(b) Negligently and materially.

22577. For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
apply:
(a) The term "personally identifiable information" means
individually identifiable information about an individual consumer
collected online by the operator from that individual and maintained
by the operator in an accessible form, including any of the
following:
(1) A first and last name.
(2) A home or other physical address, including street name and
name of a city or town.
(3) An e-mail address.
(4) A telephone number.
(5) A social security number.
(6) Any other identifier that permits the physical or online
contacting of a specific individual.
(7) Information concerning a user that the Web site or online
service collects online from the user and maintains in personally
identifiable form in combination with an identifier described in this
subdivision.
(b) The term "conspicuously post" with respect to a privacy policy
shall include posting the privacy policy through any of the
following:
(1) A Web page on which the actual privacy policy is posted if the
Web page is the homepage or first significant page after entering
the Web site.
(2) An icon that hyperlinks to a Web page on which the actual
privacy policy is posted, if the icon is located on the homepage or
the first significant page after entering the Web site, and if the
icon contains the word "privacy." The icon shall also use a color
that contrasts with the background color of the Web page or is
otherwise distinguishable.
(3) A text link that hyperlinks to a Web page on which the actual
privacy policy is posted, if the text link is located on the homepage
or first significant page after entering the Web site, and if the
text link does one of the following:
(A) Includes the word "privacy."
(B) Is written in capital letters equal to or greater in size than
the surrounding text.
(C) Is written in larger type than the surrounding text, or in
contrasting type, font, or color to the surrounding text of the same
size, or set off from the surrounding text of the same size by
symbols or other marks that call attention to the language.
(4) Any other functional hyperlink that is so displayed that a
reasonable person would notice it.
(5) In the case of an online service, any other reasonably
accessible means of making the privacy policy available for consumers
of the online service.
(c) The term "operator" means any person or entity that owns a Web
site located on the Internet or an online service that collects and
maintains personally identifiable information from a consumer
residing in California who uses or visits the Web site or online
service if the Web site or online service is operated for commercial
purposes. It does not include any third party that operates, hosts,
or manages, but does not own, a Web site or online service on the
owner's behalf or by processing information on behalf of the owner.
(d) The term "consumer" means any individual who seeks or
acquires, by purchase or lease, any goods, services, money, or credit
for personal, family, or household purposes.

22578. It is the intent of the Legislature that this chapter is a
matter of statewide concern. This chapter supersedes and preempts all
rules, regulations, codes, ordinances, and other laws adopted by a
city, county, city and county, municipality, or local agency
regarding the posting of a privacy policy on an Internet Web site.

22579. This chapter shall become operative on July 1, 2004.