You Should Have the Right to Sue Companies That Violate Your Privacy It is not enough for government to pass laws that protect consumers from corporations that harvest and monetize their personal data. It is also necessary for these laws to have bite, to ensure companies do not ignore them. The best way to do so is to empower ordinary consumers to bring their own lawsuits against the companies that violate their privacy rights. Such “private rights of action” are among EFF’s highest priorities in any data privacy legislation. For example, while there is a lot to like about the new California Consumer Privacy Act (A.B. 375 and S.B. 1121), a significant flaw is its lack of a private right of action (except as to some kinds of data breaches). We will work this year to amend CCPA to add consumer enforcement. The California Attorney General, who has the primary duty to enforce the CCPA, supports consumer enforcement, explaining : The lack of a private right of action, which would ...