Privacy

4468 readers

1 users here now

Welcome! This is a community for all those who are interested in protecting their privacy.

Rules

PS: Don't be a smartass and try to game the system, we'll know if you're breaking the rules when we see it!

Be civil and no prejudice
Don't promote big-tech software
No apathy and defeatism for privacy (i.e. "They already have my data, why bother?")
No reposting of news that was already posted
No crypto, blockchain, NFTs
No Xitter links (if absolutely necessary, use xcancel)

Related communities:

Some of these are only vaguely related, but great communities.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

otter@lemmy.ca

shaytan@lemmy.dbzer0.com

239

California residents can demand the deletion of personal data from +500 data brokers with a single request form (consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by adhd_traco@piefed.social to c/privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

If you are a resident of California, the state now has a portal where you can demand deletion of your personal data from 500+ registered data brokers with a single request form, for free.

https://consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov/

https://hachyderm.io/@evacide/115823137786391729

Note: aside from this thread, there is also further discussion in the linked Mastodon toot.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 27 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Here's how it's gonna go:

Government of california: "delete this"

Company: no

Gov: okay well here's a fine for $200 million, don't do it again

Company: that's fine, we made $1.8 billion with the data, this is just the cost of doing business

repeats next year but with a sternly worded letter

Prove me wrong, California. Break companies out of existence when they break the law. Don't just slap them on the wrist with a fine.

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Fine them $1 million per day per person who still has data on their site if they submitted the form.

Really, these types of services need to be opt-in instead of opt-out.

[–] cassandrafatigue@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 4 days ago

They need to not exist.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I appreciate your cynicism, but I'm not personally inclined towards it. I think what it will ultimately boil down to, which you alluded to, is how the law is enforced. If they get fined as a first measure but then get taken to court for a second failure by California's attorney general and get subsequently bankrupted, it might stand as an example to others.

Or maybe they'll still say the potential risk is still worth it. I dunno. We'll just have to see how this goes, but it's still better than the current options, which are:

Trying to navigate deleting your own data, staying on top of it, and hoping they're actually deleting things.
Paying a private company to do it and hope they're not just pocketing your money.
Doing nothing and getting butt-fucked by surveillance capitalism.

None of those are great, so I'm hopeful this is the start of something better.

[–] chillpanzee@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 days ago

Earlier in the year I read an article claiming that something like 40% of the data brokers doing business here (ie collecting data on California citizens) don't comply with elements of existing law, such as registering with the CA secretary of state. So the author wasn't bullish on the idea that they'd suddenly start just because there's a new law. They are sayign the AG will aggressively pursue violators, but we'll see.

If nothing else, we'll have one more data store to get hacked.