Does deleting your data even matter if it's already been sold to a data broker?

If you are a California resident you can request a deletion via the state's new DROP platform which is launching next year. That will send the deletion request to every registered data broker in the state who will then have 45 days to comply. Part of that compliance is sending deletion notifications to everyone downstream that they have shared or sold your data to in the past. The penalty for not responding to a DROP request is going to be $200 a day, per request.

Starting in 2028 CA registered data brokers will have to undergo audits to ensure that they have been complying with deletion requests to the fullest extent of the law. Now, maybe only 20% of actual data brokers are registered in California like they are supposed to be, but it's a start.

Shameless plug: I'm building a platform to help the data brokers actually delete the data they are supposed to, provide full auditing and accounting for that process, and automate privacy request handling: forgetmenaut.com

What mugshot extortionists do, is charge you to delete your mugshot, then move it to another domain that they own.

There’s still value in turning the faucet off if you ask me. Especially if you’ve hardened security/privacy practices to better protect yourself moving forward.

I only got really serious about consistently using VPN’s, firewalls, adblockers, and more privacy centered browsers a few years ago. I would say over the last 8 to 12 months I finally started to see it pay off. I still don’t see a lot of ads if ever, and they are wildly off target when I do see them. Using email aliases that I regularly purge has also made a huge difference when it comes to password/info leaks in particular.

Now if I could only get my damn phone number under control… so tired of the endless spam texts