Thread by @sevvierose

(1) The #California Legislature is panicking tonight. They're currently presented with a watered-down #ConsumerProtection bill that would require tech companies to disclose the data collected on users, and delete the data collected on them at request. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavC…

(2) This bill poses a huge threat to the profits of FAANG corporations, and it poses a threat to the companies who rely on this data to sell advertisers and political groups analytics on prospective consumers/voters.

Why is it such a problem, though?

(3) The #CCPA is actually quite milquetoast, as it's written now. But if they don't pass this bill, California has a much bigger problem coming for them in November: the will of the people.

(4) As it stands right now, #CCPA is passive. It gives consumers the right to REQUEST disclosure of the data held on them, and request that that data be deleted. Companies like #Facebook, who thrive off collecting and analyzing user data, will still be allowed to do this.

(5) Sure, it will lead to many people filing requests to find out what data is held by these companies, and to delete that data, but it puts the onus on the consumer to protect themselves.

That's not what the bill that will inevitably replace it will look like, if this fails.

(6) If the California Legislature doesn't pass this, and Governor Jerry Brown doesn't sign it, though, the man who funded this bill in the first place will be coming back with another come voting season, this November. And with it, public debates on the subject.

(7) A public debate on the subject of consumer privacy, and the collection of user data to be sold to politicians, advertisers, etc., would be a nightmare for #FAANG and related companies. No longer would they get to present themselves as the good guys.

(8) How did California get itself into this catch-22 for its most profitable sector?

It's all thanks to a real-estate developer from San Francisco, who happened to have the money necessary to hold companies like Facebook and Amazon to account: Alistair McTaggart.

Alistair McTaggart (@mcthoughtful) invested $3 million into a campaign that, up until this month, most people thought would be a complete failure, based on a very simple idea:

"I want to be able to go to Amazon and find out who they sold my information to."

(10) McTaggart, over the last year, collected 600,000 signatures demanding action be taken by the Legislature to protect consumer privacy -- lest the problem become a ballot initiative in November 2018. And it looks like it's working.

(11) California has until 28 Jun to pass this legislation into law. The media, who are complicit in the exploitation of consumer's data for profits, have remained quiet on this subject up until this point, but they won't be able to stay quiet if AB-375 doesn't pass.

(12) "If it doesn’t [pass], we will proceed to the November election We are content either way, as we feel that both the legislative solution, and our initiative, provide tremendously increased privacy rights to Californians.”

gizmodo.com/california-has…

(13) That's McTaggart, in a statement regarding the political catch-22. He's not a dumb man in the slightest.

These tech companies can barely address the proposal directly, though. Instead, they've manipulatively tried to paint this as a threat to jobs in California.

(14) And the media companies which rely so heavily on Google, Facebook, etc., have thrown out all journalistic integrity on the subject, barely even writing about it unless they're publishing opposition statements verbatim:

prnewswire.com/news-releases/…

(15) "This ballot measure disconnects California. It is unworkable, requiring the internet and businesses in California to operate differently than the rest of the world -- limiting our choices, hurting our businesses, and cutting our connection to the global economy."

(16) At this point, you should be familiar with this kind of hyperbole -- it's the exact same kind of hyperbole used with any political initiative which poses a risk to someone's unending source of ill-gotten wealth.

(17) #CCPA is one of the best things to happen for consumers regarding the Internet in a long time. And whether it passes now, or becomes a ballot issue in November, it exposes weaknesses in these #FAANG companies' armour of moral superiority.

(18) These oligopolists are going to be seeing a lot more legislation coming down on their heads in 2019 and 2020. No longer will the public see them as morally-righteous entities which can do no wrong.

Thank God.