California Codes, Civil Code - CIV, Division 3 — Obligations, Part 4 — Obligations Arising from Particular Transactions, Title 1.8 — Personal Data, Chapter 1 — Information Practices Act of 1977, Article 1 — General Provisions and Legislative Findings, Section 1798.1

The Legislature declares that the right to privacy is a personal and fundamental right protected by Section 1 of Article I of the Constitution of California and by the United States Constitution and that all individuals have a right of privacy in information pertaining to them. The Legislature further makes the following findings:

(a) The right to privacy is being threatened by the indiscriminate collection, maintenance, and dissemination of personal information and the lack of effective laws and legal remedies.

(b) The increasing use of computers and other sophisticated information technology has greatly magnified the potential risk to individual privacy that can occur from the maintenance of personal information.

(c) In order to protect the privacy of individuals, it is necessary that the maintenance and dissemination of personal information be subject to strict limits.