Your online personal data is probably spread out all over the place if you’ve been using the internet for any length of time. For instance, you provide businesses your personal data when you register for a new social media site or make an online purchase.
Both businesses and data brokers gather such private information, which they may then sell to other businesses so they can use it to market to you with advertisements. If you’re anything like me, you unknowingly provided your personal information when signing up for rewards programs or other online services. And you’re currently paying for it with internet-wide tracking advertising. However, Consumer Reports has a new app called Permission Slip that you may use to tell businesses not to sell your information.
Continue reading to learn more about using Permission Slip to regain some control over your online data. Also included are six suggestions for protecting your data and the need for a password manager.
What is Permission Slip?
Some states have implemented laws that give you some control over what happens to your personal data, allowing you to reclaim some of it. You may be able to forbid data brokers from selling your information or completely remove your online records, depending on the state. However, the procedure for managing your data on websites can be complicated, and it’s frequently ambiguous whether you’ve chosen to accept or reject the sale of your personal information. It may also be difficult to find and preserve all of your internet data due to the way that data is traded around.
This is where services like Consumer Reports’ Permission Slip come in. Permission Slip does the legwork of collecting the places that might have your data, including more than 100 companies that use your personal information. All you have to do is submit your request for your info to either be deleted outright or simply not sold any more.
How do I use Permission Slip?
Simply enter your email address when signing up for the service to begin using Permission Slip. In order to target the majority of the potential buyers of my data, I chose to register using the email address I commonly use when creating online accounts or enrolling in rewards programs.
Following registration, you’ll be given a list of potential data brokers and well-known companies. Choose Learn More & Take Action if you wish to take action and you believe the company may hold your data. Select Hide so that it won’t clog up your suggestions if you don’t believe this firm has your data and you’d like to stop seeing it as an option.
You will be directed to a screen that details the types of data the business typically collects as well as your options once you have clicked Learn More & Take Action. You might be able to forbid businesses from selling your data or completely erase your account, depending on the firm and the state in where you reside. It’s crucial to keep in mind that if you’re deleting your account and you participate in the company’s rewards program, you will forfeit your benefits.
Permission Slip will ask you a few questions to help businesses and data brokers properly identify you and handle your information once you’ve chosen whether you want to deactivate your account with a particular firm or merely forbid them from selling your data.
Once you’ve first entered your personal information, removing your data further is a rather easy process. You just go through Permission Slip’s options, choose the businesses that may already have your information, and either remove your account or forbid the business from using it.
It’s vital to keep in mind that even when Permission Slip submits the request on your behalf, you might still need to confirm it yourself with the business. Patience will be your friend during this procedure because it can take some time to complete your request and remove your information.
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