Newsom Vetoes California Privacy Opt-Out Feature for Browsers

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed legislation (AB 3048) Friday that would have made it easier for Californians using Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and similar browsers to have an easier way to block the use or sharing of their data by every website they visit.

The legislation, a priority of the California Privacy Protection Agency, was intended to build on efforts by privacy advocates to make the state’s first-in-the-nation privacy law, arguably already considered one of the toughest, the strongest one possible.

Newsom, however, objected to the requirements it would have placed on mobile operating systems, which would have ...