California's Global Opt-Out Bill No Longer Covers Mobile OS
A California bill requiring support for universal opt-out signals would no longer apply to mobile operating systems (MOS) under an amendment to AB-566 that the Assembly adopted on Monday. Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal's (D) legislation awaits an Assembly floor vote. It cleared the Appropriations Committee last month (see 2505230062).
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AB-566 would now prohibit developing or maintaining “a browser or browser engine” that doesn’t support sending opt-out preference signals. It defines a browser engine as “the software component of a web browser or web-enabled application that interprets and renders web content, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, transforming code into interactive visual output on a consumer’s device, including, but not limited to, Blink, Gecko, and WebKit.”
Also, the amended bill adds a requirement that businesses must “make clear to a consumer in its public disclosures how the opt-out preference signal works and the types of personal information to which the signal would apply.”
Requiring browser engines to include the setting wraps in the mobile world, noted the California Privacy Protection Agency in a Monday blog post that reiterated the agency’s support for AB-566. “A browser engine is used to display web content in web applications, from internet browsers, to mobile browsers, to a large majority of mobile applications -- meaning that the bill would enable consumers to opt-out of the sale and sharing of their data by most apps in a single step.”
“If passed by the California Legislature and signed into law by” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), opt-out preference signals “will become a standard feature on all browsers and browser engines, so that Californians can easily take advantage of these protections,” the agency added. “It gives you a powerful, easy-to-use tool to stop your personal information from being sold or shared -- just like the [California Consumer Privacy Act] promised.”
Newsom vetoed a similar CPPA-endorsed bill last year due to concerns that MOS companies like Apple and Google might struggle to support opt-out preference signals (see 2502130036).
At a December meeting, the CPPA board voted 5-0 to support a staff recommendation to renew the state agency’s push for a bill that failed last year. While staff suggested removing the mobile OS requirement so that the bill could more easily pass, the board decided that the agency should recommend keeping the mobile OS requirement at least for now, while giving flexibility to negotiate the bill’s terms as it moves through the process.