Lenders and other mortgage firms operating in California will have to include new do-not-track disclosures in their online privacy policies starting on Jan. 1, 2014.
Assembly Bill No. 370, which amends Section 22575 of the state’s Business and Professions Code, was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. It requires collectors “of personally identifiable information” from California residents who use or visit their business site to post clear privacy policy codes to inform these customers, according to the Ballard Spahr's Consumer Financial Services Group report.
Lenders, servicers and other mortgage businesses need to revise their website privacy policies accordingly, the report notes.
Web operators must include a clear description of do-not-track settings in their consumers' browsers or “other mechanisms” that offer consumers the ability to choose “over time and across third-party Web sites or online services.”
Hyperlinks to a privacy policy must contain a description that includes the effects, "of any program or protocol the operator follows that offers the consumer that choice.”
The law also requires an operator to disclose whether third parties can collect personally identifiable information when a consumer uses the operator’s website or service, the report notes.
