California officials brief Vermont senators on data-broker registry and mass-deletion system

Californians who run the state's privacy agency told the Vermont Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee that the state’s data-broker registry and deletion platform aim to give residents more control over third-party data and that the system has been funded by broker registration fees rather than the general fund.

Tom Kemp, executive director of the California Privacy Protection Agency, told senators the agency supports the registry-and-delete combination in H211 and said California’s approach pairs a public registry of brokers with a 'drop' system that can process deletions at scale. "We do share enforcement with the attorney general of California," Kemp said, and he described the agency’s role implementing the state’s delete act and related registry rules.

Why it matters: Vermont’s H211 would create a data-broker registry and some deletion tools; California’s experience shows trade-offs for scale, cost and enforcement. Committee members pressed witnesses on security, costs and whether California might license or share its platform so Vermont…