No Opt Out

Published on

With thousands of companies selling your data, there is no easy way to exercise privacy right. But help is on the way.

Even with strong laws in place in California, there is no easy way to opt out of our personal data being collected, used and shared by companies. For the average person, it means filling out thousands of forms and time no one wants to spend.

That’s because the same tech companies that collect large amounts of data also own the most popular web browsers—Chrome (Google), Safari (Apple) and Edge (Microsoft). And they don’t let us tell businesses all our privacy choices in one step because it’s not in their financial interest to do so. Although businesses must accept a global opt out under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), most browsers don’t offer such a signal unless a plug-in is installed. Even then, not all browsers accept it. 

Read the report here.

Justin Kloczko
Justin Kloczko
Justin Kloczko follows tech and privacy for Consumer Watchdog. He’s a recovering daily newspaper reporter whose work has also appeared in Vice, Daily Beast and KCRW.
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