The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) defines a ‘sale’ of personal information as any transfer or disclosure of personal information to another business or third party for monetary or other valuable consideration. However, the CCPA also provides some exceptions to this definition, such as:

If the consumer has directed the business to intentionally disclose the personal information or use the personal information to interact with a third party, provided the third party does not also sell the personal information.

If the business transfers the personal information to a service provider that is contractually prohibited from retaining, using, or disclosing the personal information for any purpose other than performing the services specified in the contract with the business.

If the business transfers the personal information to a third party as part of a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or other transaction in which the third party assumes control of all or part of the business, provided the information is used or shared consistently with the CCPA.

The use of cookies on a website by a service provider is generally not deemed a sale of personal information by the CCPA, as long as the information collected by the service provider is necessary to perform the services specified in the contract with the business, and the service provider does not further collect, sell, or use the personal information of the consumer except as necessary to perform the business purpose. One of the examples of a valid business purpose is to perform debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.

Therefore, option D is the correct answer, as it describes a scenario where the use of cookies by a service provider is not a sale of personal information under the CCPA, assuming the service provider complies with the contractual obligations and does not further use or disclose the information.

Option A is incorrect, as it does not describe a valid exception to the definition of a sale. The third party that stores personal information to trigger a response to a consumer’s request to opt in is not acting as a service provider, but as a separate entity that may have its own interest in the personal information. The consumer’s request to opt in does not necessarily imply that the consumer has directed the business to disclose the personal information to the third party.

Option B is incorrect, as it does not describe a valid exception to the definition of a sale. The analytics cookies placed by the service provider may still constitute a sale of personal information, even if they cannot be linked to a particular consumer of that business. The CCPA defines personal information broadly to include any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Therefore, the analytics cookies may still fall within the scope of personal information, and their use by the service provider may still be a sale, unless one of the exceptions applies.

Option C is incorrect, as it does not describe a valid exception to the definition of a sale. The service provider that retains personal information obtained in the course of providing the services specified in the agreement with the subcontractors is not acting as a service provider to the business, but as a separate entity that may have its own interest in the personal information. The agreement with the subcontractors does not necessarily imply that the business has authorized the service provider to retain, use, or disclose the personal information for any purpose other than performing the services specified in the contract with the business.

References:

[IAPP CIPP/US Study Guide], Chapter 10: California Consumer Privacy Act, pp. 223-226.

CIPP/US Practice Questions (Sample Questions), Question 30.