The California Privacy Protection Agency is set to make the first public appointment Friday to the state’s working group created under a first-in-the-nation online children’s privacy law.
The agency plans to name Jennifer King, a privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, according to published meeting materials. CPPA staffers cited her past research on “dark patterns,” website designs and features that unfairly nudge a consumer to opt into sharing data over opting out. She also is familiar with research on how children use apps.
The law creates a working group to make recommendations for best practices concerning children’s access to online services.
The 2022 California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act requires businesses to implement higher online safety and privacy defaults for children beginning in July 2024. Companies must consider whether their product or service could hurt children by exposing them to “harmful, or potentially harmful” content. The report, which is also due in July next year, is designed to inform those efforts.
Tech groups, however, are suing to stop the law, claiming it violates the First Amendment’s free speech protections and would force companies to over-moderate online content.
King was previously a director of consumer privacy at Stanford Law’s Center for Internet and Society and a co-director at the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Technology, Society, and Policy. Outside academia, she worked in security and product management for a number of companies including
King is the first of nine forthcoming appointments to the California Children’s Data Protection Working Group created under the new law.
Other Personnel Changes
At its meeting Friday, the CPPA is also set to give an update on its hiring efforts. Its enforcement powers went into effect in July, with the agency’s deputy director of enforcement Michael Macko promising “vigorous” activity as soon as possible.
The aggressive rhetoric is tempered by the reality that it will take time to build out the enforcement team. So far, only 10% of the planned division has been hired. A chief auditor position is still open, agency staff noted.
The CPPA’s five-member board, however, is now full after it operated for several months and made crucial decisions with one to two vacancies. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last month appointed Jeffrey Worthe to the board. Worthe oversees a real estate group based in Southern California and serves with the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Board of Directors, among other organizations.
