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Illustration by Gabriel Hongsdusit, CalMatters

In summary

A new state tool lets you tell data brokers to stop tracking you. Will they comply? Help us investigate.

Welcome to CalMatters, the only nonprofit newsroom devoted solely to covering issues that affect all Californians. Sign up for WhatMatters to receive the latest news and commentary on the most important issues in the Golden State.

If you haven’t heard yet, the state is offering a new way for Californians to protect their data — and we want your help tracking its rollout and effectiveness.

Data brokers are largely unknown companies that make a business out of collecting often-sensitive data on consumers. That data can include where you and your family are at all times, what you buy, what medications you’re taking and much more.

Starting at the beginning of this year, the California Privacy Protection Agency allowed residents of the state to sign up for the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, or DROP. The tool lets consumers send an instant request to hundreds of data brokers, asking them to delete their data and stop tracking them.

The brokers are required to start processing those requests in August. We reported on the tool’s launch, and as new requests are processed, we’ll keep following the story.

CalMatters and The Markup want to keep tabs on whether data companies comply with DROP, and that’s where we need your help.

Californians have the right to know about the personal information a business collects about them and to control how it is used and shared. We’ll walk you through how to exercise those rights with some of the largest data brokers in the country and how to share what they tell you with us. Then, after the DROP deadline, we’ll walk you through how to do it again, and we’ll help you figure out if the information companies have about you changed, grew, or was deleted.

Ready to get started?

Step 1: If you haven’t already, submit your DROP request

File your request here: CA DROP Form

If you get stuck, here’s our guide on how to find some of the trickier pieces of data the DROP form needs from you.

A submission will send requests to hundreds of data brokers to delete your information and stop tracking you. Brokers are required to process requests starting in August.

Step 2: Take a screenshot of your DROP dashboard

Once you’ve submitted your DROP request, you’ll see a dashboard that looks like this:

Screenshot via the website of the California Privacy Protection Agency

Take a screenshot. At the top of the page, there will be a unique ID number that’s just for you. We don’t need that, so don’t include it in the screenshot.

Step 3: Tell us you’re ready for the next step

Now that you’ve got your screenshot, share it with us using this form.

Once you’ve submitted the form, we’ll follow up in a couple of days about next steps, and we’ll be here to help you troubleshoot any issues you might run into along the way.

Thank you for being part of this project. Your participation helps us keep California’s data privacy efforts transparent and accountable.

Colin LecherInvestigative Reporter

colin@calmatters.org

Colin Lecher is a reporter based in New York. His work on technology and society has received honors from the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Deadline Club, the Radio Television Digital News...<br>More by Colin Lecher

Mohamed Al ElewJournalism Engineer

mohamed@calmatters.org

Mohamed Al Elew is a journalism engineer, where they use data and software to produce investigative reporting. Before joining CalMatters and The Markup, Mohamed was a data reporter at Reveal from the Center...<br>More by Mohamed Al Elew

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Californians can protect their personal data with one click. Help us test if it works

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