California Legislature Advances Bill Empowering Consumers to Easily Exercise Privacy Rights at Scale

What happened

The California Opt Me Out Act (AB 566) was approved by the state legislature and sent to the Governor. It mandates that every web browser, including Chrome, Safari and Edge, provide a configurable opt‑out preference signal (OOPS) that users can enable once to block the sale or sharing of their personal data. The bill builds on the California Consumer Privacy Act, which already obliges businesses to honor such signals. If enacted, the requirement will apply to all browsers operating in California, extending the existing opt‑out framework that currently exists only in a few privacy‑focused browsers.

Why it matters

Browser developers must add OOPS functionality to their products, and businesses that receive the signal will need to integrate checks into their data‑sale pipelines. Failure to support or honor the signal could expose firms to enforcement under the CCPA.

Business impact

Implementing OOPS will require engineering resources to modify browser settings UI and to emit standardized signals, while downstream systems must be updated to respect those signals in real time.

Checklist

• Add OOPS supportHigh priority

  Update browser code to include a user‑configurable opt‑out preference signal that is transmitted with each request.

• Honor OOPS signalsHigh priority

  Modify data‑processing and ad‑tech platforms to block any sale or sharing of personal data when an OOPS is received.

Who reported it

Discussion