Yikes. Data brokers have been caught hiding deletion instructions from search engine results. Seems like they actively know what they’re doing is scummy.
More than 30 of the companies, which collect and sell consumers’ personal information, hid their deletion instructions from Google, according to a review by The Markup and CalMatters of hundreds of broker websites. This creates one more obstacle for consumers who want to delete their data.
Many of the pages containing the instructions, listed in an official state registry, use code to tell search engines to remove the page entirely from search results. Popular tools like Google and Bing respect the code by excluding pages when responding to users.
This seems to be a trend. I came across another similar study from the University of California, Irvine last month.
Of the 543 companies contacted, 40% failed to respond in any way, showing “rampant non-compliance” among the registered brokers.
Daniel’s law currently covers judges & law enforcement. It carries a fine of $1000 per violation for failing to remove the subject’s PII (Personally Identifiable Information) in a timely manner. If Daniel’s law extends to everyone, it could improve privacy compliance.
Scale: It’s probably a full time job trying to delete your own data by sending out thousands of requests and follow ups. Services are probably better to handle this for us.