Calif. Privacy Agency Battles Tractor Supply Over Refusal to Answer Compliance Questions
The California Privacy Protection Agency revealed -- and raised the stakes in -- an investigation of Tractor Supply Company, filing a court petition Wednesday that alleges the retailer failed to comply with an investigative subpoena seeking information about its compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Privacy Daily provides accurate coverage of newsworthy developments in data protection legislation, regulation, litigation, and enforcement for privacy professionals responsible for ensuring effective organizational data privacy compliance.
Filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, the petition marks the first time an ongoing investigation into a company was publicly disclosed, the CCPA said. It's also the first judicial action to enforce an investigative request, it added in a press release.
“We will not hesitate to seek the court’s assistance when necessary to advance our investigations and protect Californians’ privacy rights,” said Michael Macko, CPPA head of enforcement. “We look forward to addressing the merits of this dispute in court.”
CPPA enforcers have been investigating since last year whether Tractor Supply "failed to honor Californians’ right to opt-out of the sale and sharing of their personal information online," among other possible privacy violations, the petition in California Superior Cour said.
The Enforcement Division sought facts about the company's privacy policies in a subpoena served "more than six months ago," the petition noted. "After months of dragging its feet, Tractor Supply ultimately refused to answer questions about its business practices before January 1, 2023 -- Ieaving an evidentiary gap of three years from the law’s operative date."
"To explain this refusal, Tractor Supply contends that its practices before 2023 'fall outside the scope of the agency’s enforcement authority' because the Agency had not yet issued its 2023 regulations, and, thus, Tractor Supply lacked 'actual knowledge of what is prohibited under the CCPA,'” the petition added. But the company's "practices before 2023 are relevant and fall within the Agency’s investigative authority," as "the CCPA has been on the books since 2018" and went into effect in January 2020.
Through the petition, the CPPA asked the court to order Tractor Supply to appear in court to "show cause why it has refused to comply with the Agency’s investigative subpoena," and order it "to provide full and complete responses to the interrogatories" if they fail to do so.
In an email to Privacy Daily, a spokesperson for Tractor Supply Co. said the company is "not in a position to comment on the specifics of the case at this time" since "this is an ongoing legal proceeding."