https://qz.com/1318270/california-passes-the-biggest-data-privacy-bill-in-the-us-the-california-consumer-privacy-act/ > California lawmakers passed a law to give people more control over how companies like Google and Facebook use their data. > In one day (June 28th), the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 unanimously passed both legislative chambers and was signed into law by governor Jerry Brown. Similar to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which went live in Europe in May, the law requires that Californians have access to and the ability to delete the data tech companies hold on them. It also gives users the ability to opt out of companies sharing (and theoretically selling) their data to third parties. Other states are working on similar legislation, but this is one of the most comprehensive set of laws passed to date. The regulations will go into effect in January 2020.