The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued a record fine earlier this month to Tractor Supply, the country’s self-proclaimed largest “rural lifestyle” retailer, for apparently ducking its responsibilities under the California Consumer Privacy Act. Under that law, companies are required to respect California customers’ and job applicants’ rights to know, delete, and correct information that businesses collect about them, and to opt-out of some types of sharing and use. The law also requires companies to give notice of these rights, along with other information, to customers, job applicants, and others. The CPPA said that Tractor Supply failed several of these requirements. This is the first time the agency has enforced this data privacy law to protect job applicants. Perhaps best of all, the company's practices came to light all thanks to a consumer complaint filed with the agency.
Your complaints matter—so keep speaking up.
Tractor Supply, which has 2,500 stores in 49 states, will pay for their actions to the tune of $1,350,000—the largest fine the agency has issued to date. Specifically, the agency said, Tractor Supply violated the law by:
Failing to maintain a privacy policy that notified consumers of their rights;
Failing to notify California job applicants of their privacy rights and how to exercise them;
Failing to provide consumers with an effective mechanism to opt-out of the selling and sharing of their personal information,[...]
