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"Verizon exits fight against proposed Calif. privacy law", 9 May 2018

Verizon has become the second major company to bow out of a fight challenging a California ballot proposal that would let consumers know what types of information companies are collecting, sharing and selling on them, saying it will turn its attention from state-level fights to nationwide policy efforts...Last month Facebook Inc. dropped its opposition to the proposal, leaving the likes of Google, Comcast and AT&T active in the coalition...Facebook's announcement came on the heels of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress regarding personal information pulled from the social media giant by Cambridge Analytica, which was used in targeted advertising during the 2016 presidential campaign. A day before Verizon's announcement, the group supporting the ballot measure, Californians for Consumer Privacy, said it had garnered 625,000 signatures, enough to put the question to a statewide vote...
A spokesperson for the ballot initiative group, Alastair Mactaggart, said Facebook and Verizon should come out publicly in support of consumer's privacy rights if they truly care."Though they're extremely late to the party, we're glad to see that Verizon is joining Facebook in dropping its opposition to the California Consumer Privacy Act, and we encourage the other major corporations still funding the anti-consumer Super PAC to stop opposing these common-sense reforms as well," Mactaggart said in a statement. "It's clear that these corporations are realizing that being anti-consumer and against basic privacy rights is bad for business."
Under the proposed initiative, businesses would be required to tell consumers who ask what categories of personal information the company collects on them and how it's being used. Consumers would also be given the right to opt out of further collection, usage or sale of that data, and would be able to hold businesses accountable for data breaches...according to a summary of the initiative on the advocacy group's website.
The opposition, meanwhile, is headed by Silicon Valley lobbying group Internet Association, TechNet and the California Chamber of Commerce...