California's new DROP law lets residents send one delete request to data brokers

Among the nation’s strictest privacy laws, a new California law took effect on January 1, allowing residents to register a single demand to have their personal information deleted and no longer collected by data brokers.

The California Privacy Protection Agency says more than 500 companies actively scour a range of sources for scraps of information about individuals, then package and store that data to sell to marketers, private investigators, and others.

In 2024, the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog said brokers trawl automakers, tech companies, junk-food restaurants, device makers, and others for financial information, purchases, family situations, eating and exercising habits, travel and entertainment habits, and "just about any other imaginable information belonging to millions of people."

Two years ago California’s Delete Act required residents to file a separate demand with each broker; Consumer Watchdog found only 1 percent of Californians exercised those rights in the first 12 months. The new law, known as DROP (Delete Request and Opt-out Platform), lets residents register one demand and CalPrivacy will forward it to all brokers.

Key Topics

Tech, Drop, California, Calprivacy, Consumer Watchdog, Delete Act