"According to the California Privacy Protection Agency, more than 500 companies actively scour all sorts of sources for scraps of information about individuals, then package and store it to sell to marketers, private investigators, and others. The nonprofit Consumer Watchdog said in 2024 that brokers trawl automakers, tech companies, junk-food restaurants, device makers, and others for financial info, purchases, family situations, eating, exercising, travel, entertainment habits, and just about any other imaginable information belonging to millions of people."
"It required data brokers to provide residents with a means to obtain a copy of all data pertaining to them and to demand that such information be deleted. Unfortunately, Consumer Watchdog found that only 1 percent of Californians exercised these rights in the first 12 months after the law went into effect. A chief reason: Residents were required to file a separate demand with each broker. With hundreds of companies selling data, the burden was too onerous for most residents to take on."
More than 500 companies collect and sell personal data gathered from automakers, tech firms, restaurants, device makers and many other sources. They compile financial information, purchase histories, family situations, eating and exercising habits, travel and entertainment preferences, and other personal details belonging to millions of people. California's Delete Act required brokers to provide copies of data and delete it on request, but only 1 percent of residents used those rights because each broker required a separate demand. DROP (Delete Request and Opt-out Platform) enables one unified deletion and opt-out request that the California Privacy Protection Agency forwards to all brokers.
Read at Ars Technica
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