Re:Show HN: Optery – See the private info data brokers are p...
by beyondd on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @04:31PM
(#27681331)
The EU fall under the GDPR and is an “opt in” regime. The U.S. falls under a makeshift patchwork of privacy laws and guidelines, and is an “opt out” regime. In an “opt in” regime (e.g. EU), the onus is on companies to obtain a user’s consent before they can use your data (i.e. they need to get you to “opt in” before they can legally use your data). In an “opt out” regime (e.g. U.S.), the onus is on the consumer to “opt out”, and companies basically have a free-for-all on a user’s data, unless the user exercises their right to “opt out”. (What's crazy is in most U.S. states, consumers have no legal right to opt out, which in the year 2021 is insane. Hopefully a federal privacy law will get passed soon.)
Given this, there is not as strong of a need for an “opt out” tool such as Optery in the EU because the GDPR is already doing a lot of work for you. However, in the U.S. (i.e. an “opt out” regime), the need for an opt out tool such as Optery is much greater because U.S. residents don’t have a privacy law in place like the GDPR to protect them. They either need to submit the opt outs themselves, or use a service like Optery.
That is why there is no EU option.
Incidentally the same "confirm your data" issue exists every time there is a data breach and people set up "Have I been pwned" websites allowing people to search for their name/e-mail address in the data. (Instead of allowing them download the data and providing instructions how to search it in private.) Not every one of those sites is legit. It is an easy way to at least confirm there is a live advertising target who is actively concerned about this data, and we have an originating IP address for that person. That seems to be what many tech companies want to know, "Is it really you?", so they can more convincingly market "you" as a real target for online advertising.