By Stephanie Nguyen

Privacy headlines often focus on big tech behemoths—and for good reason. Last year alone, the Federal Trade Commission settled a $5 billion civil penalty against Facebook and a $170 million fine for alleged violations of the Children’s Privacy Law against Google and YouTube. These companies have contributed to waves of identity theft, social stigma, and barriers to housing and jobs for the victims of their data breaches.

This year, California’s state privacy law (CCPA) went into effect, and companies will be spending big money to make sure they are on the right side of the law: CCPA estimates companies will spend between $50,000 to $55 billion to get in compliance. For the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect in 2018,  88% of surveyed companies in the U.S. reported spending more than $1 million, according to a PWC survey.