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California's Delete Request Opt-out Platform (DROP) becomes enforceable Aug. 1, allowing residents to request data deletion from registered data brokers in one place. Non-compliant companies face fines, and the state has already penalized some brokers for failing to register.
A study from Incogni reveals that 55% of Americans have stopped posting on social media, driven by digital fatigue and privacy concerns. The article explores the shift away from public sharing and the role of data brokers.
Troy Hunt's weekly update from Marrakech discusses the futility of trying to remove personal data from data brokers and addresses companies' misguided marketing efforts.
Troy Hunt discusses the futility of trying to delete personal data from the internet, comparing it to removing urine from a swimming pool, and critiques data broker removal services.
Lawmakers have proposed a new version of the Health and Location Data Protection Act that would ban the sale of Americans' health and location data, including data shared with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude, with stronger enforcement measures.
The author tested DeleteMe, a data broker removal service, and found it helped reduce spam calls and clean up personal information online, though it's not a perfect solution.
Data brokers and aggregators secretly collect personal and financial data to infer details about individuals and sell access to shadow profiles without consent, exploiting legal loopholes by selling inferences rather than raw data, leading to a backlash and calls for regulation.
Massachusetts lawmakers passed the Consumer Data Privacy Act, banning the sale of precise location data and granting residents new rights over accessing and deleting their data.
A report from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) reveals that major data brokers and AI companies, including Google, Meta, and OpenAI, use deceptive design patterns in opt-out forms that prevent consumers from effectively opting out of data sale and sharing.
The article argues that for most people, planting fake personal details online as red herrings is ineffective against data brokers and serious adversaries, and can cause more harm than good, while pseudonyms and targeted decoys may be useful.