*By Mike Teich*
A sweeping data privacy bill has been approved in California, but it may be too late for internet users to protect their information, said former National Counterterrorism Center officer Dave White.
"You have to consider yourself compromised," he said. "You’ve already given your data away."
Experts are calling it the nation's most far-reaching law to give consumers more control over their personal data. Under the law, customers can request what personal data companies have collected and what third parties have received it.
The passing of the historical bill didn't come without criticism. The ACLU of Northern California said the legislation falls "woefully short" in defending individuals' rights.
"It's a great first step," White said. However, “it doesn’t go far enough."
Companies that collect user data, from Amazon to Microsoft to Uber, lobbied aggressively against the law, pouring millions into a [opposition campaigns](https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/15/17468292/amazon-microsoft-uber-california-consumer-privacy-act).
But consumer advocates called it a milestone victory. "Today was a [huge win](http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/28/technology/california-consumer-privacy-act/index.html) and gives consumer privacy advocates a blueprint for success," James P. Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense Media. "We look forward to working together with lawmakers across the nation to ensure robust data privacy protections for all Americans."
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/california-passes-historic-privacy-bill).
The Webby Awards have been running for over two decades and have evolved "as the internet has grown," says Claire Graves, executive director of the annual awards. Each year, the best of the best are rewarded for their contributions to the internet. This year, podcasts and games will be honored too. The awards will air on Tuesday.
The free trading app, which now lists stocks, options, and two cryptocurrencies, also surpassed rival E*TRADE in terms of users. Robinhood will use its fresh funding to build out even more products, says Dan Primack, business editor at Axios.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have openly expressed their doubts about Bitcoin. But institutions like Goldman Sachs and the New York Stock Exchange are considering embracing the cryptocurrency, suggesting that Bitcoin may just be a "blind spot" for the older generation, says Jen Wieczner, a senior writer at Fortune.
Millennials are rethinking how they use traditional banks, which opens up a massive opportunity for fintech companies, says Anu Duggal, a founding partner of the fund that just received an additional $27 million in seed money.
The state became the first in the U.S. to require almost all new homes to have solar panels, part of an effort to get half the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
The White House hosted a summit Thursday with Silicon Valley executives about the use of artificial intelligence and how it may affect American workers. Politico's technology reporter, Steven Overly, says some jobs will be lost to automation, but technology can create others.
Mark Kaufman, science reporter at Mashable, discusses California's history-making decision to mandate solar panels on all new homes and low-rise apartment buildings. [We talk what this means for the solar panel companies and the rest of the U.S.](https://mashable.com/2018/05/09/california-becomes-first-state-to-mandate-solar-panels-on-new-homes)
The White House will host dozens of Silicon Valley executives on Thursday to discuss artificial intelligence, with a focus on how it could impact jobs in the future.
By reshuffling its management, Facebook may be trying to bring all of its different apps under one coherent vision, says Josh Constine, TechCrunch's editor-at-large. And its blockchain initiative could be a way to develop its own payment system.
The Google cheif Sundar Pichai opened the company's annual developer conference by addressing the burger emoji's misplaced cheese and the beer emoji's floating foam. It shows how seriously users take pictorial communication that Pichai would kick off his keynote by talking about emojis, says Jeremy Burge, chief emoji officer at Emojipedia.
