February 2020: Survey of the Property and Casualty Insurance Industries’ Privacy Representations

To help identify trends in privacy representations, BCLP reviewed the websites and privacy notices of those Fortune 500 companies that are primarily engaged in the property and casualty insurance industries.

The data shows that there is greater uniformity between and among how property and casualty companies approached the CCPA than exists in most industries or among the general Fortune 500.  For example, property and casualty companies uniformly took the position that the use of behavioral advertising cookies does not constitute the sale of information and does not require a do not sell link or a cookie notice.  The following summarizes current industry trends:

• Privacy notices are, on average, a little over a month old.  Property and casualty insurers have significantly “newer” privacy statements than members of other insurance sectors (e.g., life and health insurers).
• All property and casualty insurance companies updated their privacy notices for the CCPA; this far surpasses the percentage of the Fortune 500 (and of other insurance sectors) that updated for the Act.
• Unlike the Fortune 500 generally, insurance companies are predominantly using lists (instead of tables or charts) to convey information.
• Unlike other insurance sectors, 100% of property and casualty insurers have taken the position that they do not sell personal information.
• Property and casualty insurers have not adopted the minority trend in some other industries to include a “Do Not Sell” option, even when a company does not sell information.
• All insurance companies offer access and deletion rights.  This differs from some other insurance sectors, where there is less consistency concerning the offering of deletion rights. 

Despite taking the position that they are not selling personal information, no property or casualty insurers are deploying cookie notices.  This deviates from both the larger Fortune 500 and from other insurance sectors.

The full analysis and report concerning the privacy practices of the property and casualty insurance industries is available to BCLP clients. Contact David.Zetoony@bclplaw.com for more information.