Personal data item Prop. B could beef up privacy rules

San Francisco residents’ personal data could gain an extra layer of protection under Proposition B, a ballot measure that supporters say could give the city some of the toughest data protection rules in the country.

Prop. B, which was authored by Supervisor Aaron Peskin and is on Tuesday’s ballot, would require the city administrator’s office to craft an ordinance outlining how third-party companies — such as Salesforce, Google or Scoot — must protect consumer data if the city issues them a permit, grant or license.

The ordinance must be based on 11 principles

outlined in the measure, which include discouraging the use of personal information that may identify a person’s race or religion, and removing personal information that could identify an individual when data are collected for research purposes. If the measure passes, the city administrator would have to present the recommendations to the Board of Supervisors in May. Public hearings would follow before the board voted.

“It is really a statement of concern and principle by the electorate of San Francisco that we believe privacy is a right and that everyone’s personal information should be sacred and protected,” Peskin said

While supporters of the measure say it could lead to a major shift in how private companies handle consumer data — beyond just in contracts with the city — the measure has received no support or opposition from any major companies.

Those against the measure, such as the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the First Amendment Coalition, worry how a small subsection of the measure could undermine the city’s Sunshine Ordinance, which ensures easier access to public records and to strengthen the open meeting laws.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” said Aaron Field, co-chair of the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists’ Freedom of Information Committee. “It allows them to update the Sunshine Ordinance in ways that could be good, but gives them

power that enables them to do things with the ordinance that are bad for Sunshine. Without a good reason, we shouldn’t hand that power to officials.”

Peskin said the opposition is misreading the text, and that the measure could actually strengthen the Sunshine law by giving the board power to make bureaucratic changes to the 19-year-old ordinance. Prop. B states that any changes must be consistent with the “intent” of the 1999 law.