Maybe "legitimate business purpose" is doing the heavy lifting here. Let's find out! Let's take another look at the bill:
> The bill would define a commercial business purpose to mean the processing of personal information either performed to further a business purpose or subject to a consumer’s opt-out rights
Let's keep reading, this is fun!
> (e) “Commercial business purpose” means the processing of personal information that satisfies either of the following criteria:
> (1) Is performed to further a business purpose as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 1798.140 of the Civil Code.
Okay, let's look up subdivision (e) of Section 1798.140 of the Civil Code of California... (this is kind of like pointers in C... very cool)
> (e) “Business purpose” means the use of personal information for the business’ operational purposes, or other notified purposes, or for the service provider or contractor’s operational purposes, as defined by regulations adopted pursuant to paragraph (10) of subdivision (a) of Section 1798.185, provided that the use of personal information shall be reasonably necessary and proportionate to achieve the purpose for which the personal information was collected or processed or for another purpose that is compatible with the context in which the personal information was collected. Business purposes are:
> (1) Auditing related to counting ad impressions to unique visitors, verifying positioning and quality of ad impressions, and auditing compliance with this specification and other standards.
> (2) Helping to ensure security and integrity to the extent the use of the consumer’s personal information is reasonably necessary and proportionate for these purposes.
> (3) Debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
> (4) Short-term, transient use, including, but not limited to, nonpersonalized advertising shown as part of a consumer’s current interaction with the business, provided that the consumer’s personal information is not disclosed to another third party and is not used to build a profile about the consumer or otherwise alter the consumer’s experience outside the current interaction with the business.
> (5) Performing services on behalf of the business, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, providing analytic services, providing storage, or providing similar services on behalf of the business.
> (6) Providing advertising and marketing services, except for cross-context behavioral advertising, to the consumer provided that, for the purpose of advertising and marketing, a service provider or contractor shall not combine the personal information of opted-out consumers that the service provider or contractor receives from, or on behalf of, the business with personal information that the service provider or contractor receives from, or on behalf of, another person or persons or collects from its own interaction with consumers.
> (7) Undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration.
> (8) Undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of a service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by the business, and to improve, upgrade, or enhance the service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by the business.
Far from a freewheeling "they can wiretap anything!!!1111" screech I keep seeing here, it seems to me that the definitions are all nicely pinned-down and there isn't a lot of leeway.
Oh and an important note: I'm not a lawyer. It's possible that I've completely bungled this analysis, so don't take it as legal advice. This is just my opinion.