California attorney general Kamala Harris recently revealed that her office created a new unit in charge of protecting consumers' privacy.
The new group, known as the Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit, will fall under the state's existing eCrime Unit and staffed by Department of Justice workers,
Harris' office announced. It will enforce laws related to online privacy,
identity theft,
data breaches, and more. Further, Harris pledged that the unit will police practices of both businesses and individuals to identify and hold accountable those who invade others' privacy.
"In the 21st Century, we share and store our most sensitive personal information on phones, computers and even the cloud," Harris said. "It is imperative that consumers are empowered to understand how these innovations use personal information so that we can all make informed choices about what information we want to share."
Eduard Goodman, chief privacy officer for Identity Theft 911, writes regularly on his blog about the dangers consumers face from various privacy problems, and what they can do about them.
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