GoKawiilIt seems scarcely credible that it’s completely legal for a company to buy and sell our personal data without our consent, but that’s the reality in the US.
In theory, you can demand that companies remove your data from the internet, but that’s a lot easier said than done. Fortunately, Incogni provides a service where they will do it for you, and 9to5Mac readers can currently claim a 55% discount …
Your personal data is available for sale
Apple provides a number of features intended to help us protect our privacy online. These include App Tracking Transparency, Hide My Email, and iCloud Private Relay. Using these tools can help us avoid adding to our public digital footprint.
What they cannot do is help with the personal data already exposed. Most people are surprised when they learn just how much information marketeers and scammers can find out about them by purchasing it from data brokers.
Those 30-page terms and conditions you agree to when you download a new app or register with a new website very often include innocuous-sounding clauses like granting permission to “share data with selected partners.” What that actually means is that data as sensitive as your location history can be sold to data brokers – who then resell it to anyone able to pay for it.
Data brokers collate personal data from multiple sources in order to create detailed profiles of individuals. Companies can then buy this data in order to target you with spam. Worse, if scammers get access to the information, they can use it to convincingly impersonate organizations known to you in order to win your confidence.
Removing your family’s data
In most US states, you have a legal right to demand that your information be removed from these databases. Unfortunately, doing so is incredibly time-consuming as you’d have to contact literally hundreds of companies.
Each of them deliberately makes the process difficult in order to dissuade people from trying. For example, you cannot make a single application on behalf of your entire family. Each family member has to apply separately. Opt-out forms are often hard to find, and the process sometimes requires filling out lengthy and complex application forms.
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