In a new article published in The Journal of the Antitrust, UCL and Privacy Section of the California Lawyers Association, President Dr. Lawrence Wu and co-author Jeewon Kim Serrato, Partner at BakerHostetler, address the complexities businesses will face in calculating the value of consumer data under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

The authors focus on the need to ensure consumers’ right to privacy and non-discrimination under the CCPA, the ability to offer competitive prices and marketing incentives to meet consumer demands, and the opportunity to earn revenue from the consumer data they may be able to collect, sell, and retain. These three objectives complicate what businesses may have to do to meet one of the fundamental requirements under the CCPA: if a business offers financial incentives or a price or service difference as compensation for the collection, sale, or retention of consumer data, the business must explain how the incentives or price or service difference is reasonably related to the value of the data to the business.

With the enforcement of the CCPA beginning on 1 July 2020, the authors address potential lasting impacts the new law may have on global privacy regulation, including legal and economic issues companies may face.