What is the Colorado Privacy Act?

The Colorado Privacy Act (CPA), signed into law on July 7, 2021, is a comprehensive privacy legislation that aims to enhance data privacy rights for residents of Colorado. The CPA provides consumers with greater control over their personal data and imposes obligations on businesses that process personal data. It is designed to offer protection similar to that of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Who is it relevant to?

The CPA applies to entities that conduct business in Colorado or produce commercial products or services that are intentionally targeted to residents of Colorado and that either:

• Control or process personal data of 100,000 or more consumers during a calendar year, or
• Derive revenue or receive discounts from the sale of personal data and control or process the personal data of 25,000 or more consumers.

The law is relevant to a wide range of industries including but not limited to:

• Technology
• Retail
• Finance
• Healthcare
• Marketing and advertising
• Any business involved in data collection, processing, and monetization

Who Needs to Comply?

The CPA mandates compliance from both data controllers and processors. Controllers are entities that determine the purposes and means of processing personal data, while processors are entities that process personal data on behalf of a controller.

What rights do consumers have under the CPA?

• Access: Consumers have the right to access their personal data.

• Correction: Consumers can correct inaccuracies in their personal data.

• Deletion: Consumers can request the deletion of their personal data.

• Data Portability: Consumers have the right to obtain a copy of their data in a portable format.

• Opt-Out: Consumers can opt out of the sale of their personal data, targeted advertising, and profiling.

What are the requirements for the Colorado Privacy Act?

Data Protection Requirements:

• Transparency: Provide clear and conspicuous privacy notices explaining data collection, use, and sharing practices.

• Data Security: Implement reasonable security measures to protect personal data.

• Data Protection Assessments: Conduct assessments for high-risk data processing activities, including targeted advertising, sale of personal data, and processing sensitive data.

Requirements Regarding Sensitive Data:

Obtain consumer consent before processing sensitive data, such as data revealing racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, mental or physical health conditions, sexual orientation, citizenship status, genetic or biometric data, and personal data of children.

Actionable Steps to Comply

1. Data Inventory and Mapping:

Identify and document all personal data processed by the organization, including data sources, storage locations, processing activities, and data sharing practices.

2. Update Privacy Notices:

Ensure that privacy notices are clear, comprehensive, and easily accessible. Include details about consumer rights and how to exercise them.

3. Implement Consumer Rights Management:

Establish procedures to handle consumer requests for data access, correction, deletion, portability, and opt-out of data sales or targeted advertising.

4. Data Protection Assessments:

Conduct and document assessments for processing activities that pose a heightened risk to consumer privacy. Use these assessments to mitigate risks and ensure compliance.

5. Review and Update Contracts:

Update contracts with third-party service providers to ensure they comply with CPA requirements. Include data processing agreements that outline responsibilities and data protection measures.

6. Train Employees:

Provide training to employees on CPA requirements and the organization’s data protection policies and procedures.

7. Implement Data Security Measures:

Ensure that appropriate technical and organizational measures are in place to protect personal data against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.

8. Monitor and Review Compliance:

Regularly review and update privacy practices and compliance programs to align with CPA requirements and any new guidance or amendments.

Why should you be Colorado Privacy Act compliant?

The CPA is enforced by the Colorado Attorney General and District Attorneys, with fines for non-compliance reaching up to $20,000 per violation. Given the potential for substantial financial penalties and legal actions, it is crucial for businesses to ensure compliance with the CPA to protect both their finances and reputation.

How to achieve compliance?

To comply with the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA), organizations can leverage Centraleyes’ comprehensive risk management and compliance platform. Centraleyes offers automated data collection and analysis, prioritized remediation advice and real-time risk scoring. 

The Centraleyes platform maps the CPA to an extensive control inventory, facilitating seamless data exchange across various systems within the network. This not only saves time and money but also ensures more reliable and accurate data management.

Read more: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_190_signed.pdf

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*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Centraleyes authored by Avigail Politzer. Read the original post at: https://www.centraleyes.com/colorado-privacy-act-cpa/