Colorado's new privacy legislation went into effect on July 1, joining several other states in enhancing privacy protections. That’s the good news. And now that residents in these states have a right to opt out of having their personal information collected, shared and sold, the next step is to find a way to make that happen, as quickly and efficiently as possible.
A local news article from the Colorado Public Interest Research Group recommends using Global Privacy Control (GPC) to simplify the opt-out process and limit future data tracking. Unfortunately, relying on this tool may create a false sense of security. Do not assume you are being protected – removing your personal information online is too important to trust a tool that might only do a partial job.
How Global Privacy Control Falls Short
GPC sends a signal from your browser that says, “I don’t want to be tracked.” Still, from that signal alone recipients such as people-finder websites and data-collecting sites may ignore this signal or require additional steps, as they can't verify if the signal comes from a state with privacy laws. The last thing these sites want to do is dilute the cache of personal content they have collected on all of us over the decades, so they will leverage whatever loopholes, gray areas, and other dodges they can find to avoid complying with delete requests.
If you want to be sure to get their attention and make sure they take action, Ironwall privacy protection gets results – every time.
In addition, GPC will do nothing to remove content from essential service websites, such as government and education (school) sites. Ironwall will remove your private content there as well, protecting you from those who might seek out your information.
What about social media? We’ll scan that as well and protect you on whatever platforms you use. With Global Privacy Control, you will still need to adjust your privacy settings manually - and then trust those providers to abide by their own rules.
Lastly, GPC does not retroactively remove previously collected information; it just prevents any new information from being saved. You can be sure people-finder sites already have all the information they need about you to share or sell as they wish.
Why Comprehensive Protection is Important
These risks are particularly concerning for judges, police, and others in high-risk professions who deal with dangerous individuals seeking retribution. Plus, personal information freely available online can also affect any employee in the healthcare, financial services, or education industries, which are frequently targeted for phishing and ransomware attacks.
Our whitepaper, The Weaponization of Privacy, explains how everyone can be a target, and how you can avoid having your home address and other personal information fall into the wrong hands.
Take action now to protect yourself. It is possible, and we can help.
