Like an alcoholic having a “moment of clarity”, once again a the state of California has somehow passed bills that do something good and positive… which is a very, very rare occurrence for the California Grand Soviet Legislature. It happened not just once, but somehow twice!
The first is a protection of a consumers neural data.
“The new bill amends the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which grants consumers rights over personal information that is collected by businesses. The term ‘personal information’ already included biometric data (such as your face, voice, or fingerprints). Now it also explicitly includes neural data.
“The bill defines neural data as ‘information that is generated by measuring the activity of a consumer’s central or peripheral nervous system, and that is not inferred from nonneural information.’ In other words, data collected from a person’s brain or nerves.
“The law prevents companies from selling or sharing a person’s data and requires them to make efforts to deidentify the data. It also gives consumers the right to know what information is collected and the right to delete it. ”
While this may seem like a solution to a yet non-existent cyberpunk dystopia, it is the type of forethought that California stumbles into less frequently than a nut found by a blind squirrel with epilepsy.
Another bill has already resulted in a win for consumers.
“Steam, a digital PC game store, now says you’re buying a license to a game and not a product, not long after California signed a new law requiring digital stores to make this change.
“While the new law, AB 2426, won’t go into effect until 2025 – Steam has made the change already to their global digital store, the largest digital PC game on the planet.
“‘A purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam,” the new disclaimer says when making purchases on the platform. The disclaimer also has a link to the Steam subscriber Terms & Conditions.
“The new law will prohibit online stores from using the words ‘buy, purchase, or any other term which a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good or alongside an option for a time-limited rental.’
The bill which protects “neural data” can be found here or read below:
Californiat SB1223 (2023) by ThePoliticalHat
The bill which requires clarification if you are buying a product or just a “license” can be found here or read below:
California AB2426 (2024) by ThePoliticalHat
Enjoy this while you can, California!
