Californians' data deletion requests, DROP, become enforceable Aug. 1

If you've ever wondered how much of your personal information is collected every time you go online, California is giving consumers a new way to push back. Starting Aug. 1, registered California data brokers must begin honoring requests submitted through the state's Delete Request Opt-out Platform, better known as DROP. The online tool allows California residents to ask registered data brokers to stop selling their personal information without having to contact hundreds of companies individually. Since Jan. 1, about 350,000 Californians have already signed up through the DROP website. Every time someone shops online, streams entertainment, or simply browses the internet, pieces of that person's digital footprint can be collected, packaged and sold. Tom Kemp, Executive Director of Cal-Privacy, explains how the state agency will enforce compliance with "DROP" requests. "In the digital economy, our personal information is basically oil," Tom Kemp with Cal Privacy said. NBC 7 Responds Kemp said many consumers don't realize just how much information is collected whenever they go online. "We oftentimes are the product, our information, our data is the product that people collect, package up into digital dossiers and sell," Kemp said. He said that information has long been used for targeted advertising. "Historically, that's been used for targeted advertising. So if you go shopping for red shoes, the red shoes follow you around for the next three weeks," Kemp said. But Kemp said the information can also become valuable to criminals. "The bad guys, the hackers are leveraging the data from data brokers," Kemp said. Instead of contacting roughly 600 registered data brokers one by one, Californians can submit a single request through the DROP website. "We're all gonna hear a giant sucking sound outside of our data being deleted from all these data brokers systems," Kemp said. He said doing the process manually would be overwhelming. "The alternative is you would have to contact 600 companies and say, please delete my information. And who's got time for that?" Kemp said. Beginning Aug. 1, registered data brokers have 45 days to process requests submitted through the system. That 45-day processing period repeats for new requests. Companies that fail to comply can face fines of $200 per day for each affected Californian. "And my agency has a dedicated team that will go after to make sure that the will of Californians to take control of their information is taken care of," a Cal Privacy representative said. Cal Privacy told NBC 7 Responds it has already fined 12 data brokers tens of thousands of dollars each for failing to register in the DROP system. The agency said only California residents are eligible to use DROP, and the tool will not erase all personal information that exists online. Consumers should continue watching for scams and take other steps to protect their personal information. More information about the Delete Request Opt-out Platform is available at https://privacy.ca.gov/drop/. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.