Tania Sepulveda takes advantage of the warmer than normal temperatures to work on her laptop computer outside her home near Montrose Harbor, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, in Chicago. , a free app that provides a one-stop spot you can use to control which companies can collect, store and sell your personal data. We urge everyone to use it.
In the last few years, a dozen states have passed laws aimed at curtailing online data collection and sharing. But, unfortunately, even the, the strongest of the bunch, puts the burden on consumers to opt out of allowing their data to be sold or shared, instead of by default requiring that companies respect our privacy. So it’s up to us to tell Google, Facebook, Amazon and every other website we visit, app we use, device we buy and so on not to invade our privacy.
You’ll notice that, for some companies, the only option available is to delete your account. That’s because CR in some cases has concluded companies don’t sell their customers’ personal info and therefore sending a request to not do so won’t have any impact. But, disappointingly, a few companies routinely deny requests from Permission Slip if they aren’t legally obligated to act. For example, the app warns users that any requests it sends to CVS to knock off its data-sharing program will result in automatic denials unless they live in California, Colorado, Connecticut or Virginia — states that have laws requiring companies to honor these types of requests. CVS apparently values its customers’ data more than their wishes for privacy.