Note – This is an attempt to describe the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) in a very simple way and is not, nor is it intended to be taken as, legal advice. Please seek the advice of legal counsel if you want to learn more about how the CCPA might impact your business.

If you have received an email that says, “Powered by Hot Prospector,” and you are not an Hot Prospector customer, but wish to exercise your California Privacy Rights, please contact the business who sent you the email for instructions. As a Service Provider, Hot Prospector is obligated by law to handle personal information only upon the instructions and with the authorization of Hot Prospector customer(s). If you are unsure of the Hot Prospector customer to contact in order to exercise your California Privacy Rights, please look at the name of the business and/or email address from which the communication originated.
If you are a California resident, and an Hot Prospector customer or Hot Prospector has previously communicated with you about becoming an Hot Prospector customer, and you wish to exercise your rights under the CCPA, please click here

What is the CCPA?

The California Consumer Privacy Act or the “CCPA” is a California law that is designed to allow for greater privacy controls and transparency in data practices in response to the increased role of technology and data practices in consumers’ lives. The law applies to the personal information of California residents.

When did the CCPA take effect?

The CCPA goes into effect January 1, 2020.

Who does the CCPA apply to and what does it cover?

The CCPA applies to “businesses” that collect “personal information” of California residents and that meet any of the following three thresholds:

• Have a gross annual revenue that exceeds $25 million
• Buy, receive, sell or share personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households or devices
• Derives 50% or more of its annual revenue from selling personal information

Notably, a business does not have to be physically located in California for the CCPA to apply. The law applies broadly and protects California residents (“consumers”), even if the business is located outside of California. “Personal information” is also very broadly defined and includes “information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer.”

What changes happened with the CCPA?

Note: This section summarizes some of the notable provisions of the CCPA, but it is not intended to be exhaustive or constitute legal advice.
The CCPA imposes a range of additional requirements on businesses, including various notice obligations, many of which can be addressed in a business’ privacy policy. The law also provides California consumers with several rights with respect to their personal information—including the right to know the categories of personal information collected about them in the past year, the right to access specific pieces of their personal information that was collected in the last year, the right to opt out of the “sale” of their personal information and the right to request deletion of their personal information.
A significant new obligation under the CCPA is the requirement to allow consumers to opt out of “sales” of personal information. Put simply, a “sale” of personal information involves a disclosure of personal information to a third party (who is not just a service provider to you) in return for money or some other form of value. Businesses that “sell” personal information of California residents must post a link on their website that allows consumers to opt-out of the sale of their information (“Do Not Sell My Information”).

How does Hot Prospector fit into all of this?

In the way Hot Prospector provides the Hot Prospector platform and its services to you, we act as what is called a “service provider” with respect to those of our customers who are considered “businesses” (as described above) under the CCPA. This means that you remain in control of your customers’ contact data and we only handle that data in order to provide our services to you or on your instructions and don’t otherwise use, disclose, or sell your customers’ personal information without checking with you (unless allowed or required by law).

How to Exercise Your California Privacy Rights

PLEASE NOTE: Hot Prospector offers an online platform by which its customers can send emails to their business contacts. This means that emails you received saying “Powered by Hot Prospector” likely did not come from Hot Prospector, but one of our customers.
If you are not an Hot Prospector customer and wish to exercise your CCPA Privacy Rights, you must contact the individual or business that sent you the email, NOT Hot Prospector.
As a service provider, Hot Prospector is obligated by law to handle personal information only upon the instructions and with the authorization of Hot Prospector customer(s). If you are unsure of the Hot Prospector customer to contact in connection with your California Privacy Rights, please look at the name of the business and/or email address from which the communication originated.
If you have a current Hot Prospector account, are a resident of California, and wish to exercise your California Privacy Rights, you can do so by clicking “Exercise My CCPA Rights/Do Not Sell My Data” below.

EXERCISE MY CCPA RIGHTS/DO NOT SELL MY DATA

If you are a former Hot Prospector customer or if we have previously communicated with you about becoming an Hot Prospector customer and you no longer wish to receive messages from us, please click the unsubscribe link in the email we sent you.
If you are a resident of California and either are a former Hot Prospector customer or you have received email communications from us about becoming an Hot Prospector customer and you wish to exercise your California Privacy Rights, you may submit a request by clicking here.