Guest Commentary
by Dr. Kathleen Harmon
At 95 years old, I have seen a lot of things dressed up as progress that weren’t the case. I have lived through segregation, voter suppression, redlining, and countless attempts to silence the voices of Black Americans. I have seen discrimination change its face many times, but one thing has remained constant: when new systems emerge, our communities are often the last to be protected and the first to bear the consequences.
That is why I am concerned about SB 690 and what it will do to the safety of my communities.
Right now, California’s Invasion of Privacy Act is one of the strongest privacy laws in the country. It says companies cannot secretly intercept your phone calls, track your online clicks, or monitor your digital communications without telling you first. SB 690 punches a hole right through that. It amends CIPA with a broad “commercial business purpose” exception that lets companies, advertising firms, data brokers, and Big Tech like Google and Facebook, intercept and record your online activity without your consent, so long as they can claim it serves some business needs.
With SB 690, these companies can track what you click, who you talk to, and when. They can sell that information. They can share it with whoever they like, including law enforcement and immigration authorities.
I have seen how this kind of thing plays out for our communities. Black Americans are already some of the most surveilled people in this country. Our neighborhoods have been the testing ground for facial recognition technology. Our social media activity has been used to monitor protesters and activists. Data brokers have been selling our personal information to anyone with a dollar, insurers, landlords, employers, worsening digital discrimination that denies us loans, raises our insurance rates, and keeps us out of jobs. When you weaken the law that gave us a right to fight back, you end up weakening it more for the people who were most vulnerable to begin with.
I am also thinking about the churches and the civil rights organizations and the neighborhood groups that our community depends on. These folks do not have armies of lawyers. When Sacramento writes complex new rules, it is always the big corporations that find a way through, and the little organizations trying to help people register to vote or sign up for healthcare that get tangled up in the fine print.
I am 95 years old. I do not get scared easily. But I know what it looks like when the law stops protecting ordinary people and starts protecting powerful ones instead. Before California passes SB 690, our lawmakers owe us a straight answer. Who, exactly, does this protect: the people of California, or the corporations looking to profit from our data?
Black Americans have fought too hard for access to information, representation, and political power to accept policies that may unintentionally weaken community-based communication. At a time when misinformation is spreading rapidly, trusted local voices are more important than ever. We should be strengthening those voices, not creating uncertainty around their ability to reach the people they serve.
This is especially important for seniors. Many older Americans rely on community organizations, churches, advocacy groups, and local media outlets to navigate increasingly complex issues. Any policy affecting how information is shared should be carefully examined for its impact on those who are already vulnerable.
The people most affected by these decisions deserve more than assurances. They deserve policies that empower them, not policies that risk leaving them behind.
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Dr. Harmon is a community activist, civil rights veteran, and political leader in San Diego. For over 60 years she has been a driving force for voting rights, peace organization, and Black community empowerment.