I like the idea of making yourself a less attractive target.
Asked under oath last week whether he would commit to not buying Americans’ location data without a warrant, the Director of the FBI declined.
Didn’t the supreme court just rule that as illegal?
Here’s the hole: [The Supreme Court’s ruling on] Carpenter limits what the government can compel. It says nothing clear about what the government can buy. So agencies just buy it.
They can’t compell a provider to provide data without a warrant but they can just buy it on the free market.
No, the supreme court decision specifically said they required a warrant to buy that information
It mentions that Privacy Guides have apps that help with batch-submitting requests to Data brokers for removal of data, but I couldn’t find it there. Anyone has a link?
Also, is this something that applies only to the US residents, or is there a similar process for EU people? Most of the guides/services I’ve seen were US-only.
Found this link for the data removal services page. The only “free” option it lists is a Google tool that requires log-in.
Edit: though if you live in the EU this isnt required, since here, not just any company can take your personal data and publish it online. You can test it yourself by googling
“firstname lastname” city, country
If you dont find any pages that lists your info, this process isnt necessary for you
I signed up to the paid service they link there (easyoptouts[dot]com) and I can vouch for its effectiveness.
It’s about a month since it made its first batch of opt out requests to 65 different sites. I went and checked a sampling of them and it definitely worked. A simple web search of myself doesn’t return me at all anymore either, and it did the same for the handful of relatives I put in. It’s also dirt cheap at $20/yr., no upselling. Their own privacy is tight which prevents them pulling a switcheroo and becoming a data broker themselves like other services have done.
More than worth it IMO. If you do go with them just be sure you understand what exactly they do and don’t do - there’s an FAQ on their site covering that, and they have some resources to help take care of some things they don’t cover.
ETA: only works in the US so far
