DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Here’s a welcome update on the California privacy bill that’s been kicking around Sacramento for years: it finally passed!

Senate Bill 1, which was passed and signed last year, will go into effect beginning today. The law requires banks, brokerages, insurance companies and other financial services companies to obtain their clients’ permission before selling or sharing information about them with outside parties, as well as giving consumers the right to “opt out” of information sharing within the same family of companies.

“We think this is an enormous victory for California consumers,” said Shelley Curran, a lobbyist for Consumers Union.

Here’s the text of the bill: SB 1: Financial institutions: nonpublic personal information.