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Own Your Data

yourdigitalrights.org

107 pointssysadm1n17 comments

Over the past couple of months I've been in the process of deleting some dormant accounts. I've had the most issues specifically with airlines. It's been a bit of a challenge interacting with the company's customer support and/or digging through their privacy policies to find an email address to contact.

I stumbled across this website a couple of times but opted not to use it, because it felt odd plugging in some personal info into a website I'd never heard of - much like those services that claim to remove you from people-search websites. However, I only now realize that this website/service actually generates an email on my behalf that includes the appropriate company email address and relevant messaging.

I really wish websites like these weren't necessary at all. I should be able to delete an account (along with personal and financial details) just as easily as I create one.

My credit card company offers a similar service for free, they'd monitor my information online and then submit an opt-out request on my behalf.

I don't use the service, but it's because of how opt-out requests work, I'd have to give an online website information about me that they may not have in order to delete the info they have, it sounds counterproductive and assumes they won't see the other info, or publish it a different way.

I've been doing the same after the LastPass incident (I haven't used it in a couple of years, but for old accounts I didn't do a good job of updating passwords).

I agree it's surprising how many companies don't allow account deletion online; it's also surprising how many privacy policies link to dead URLs or email addresses (that literally bounce) if they even mention a "request to delete" at all. Plus many others that use the stupid bots for customer support or a form with a dropdown that doesn't include anything about privacy / account, just product support.

But totally don't use any of these websites, they are very likely collecting and disseminating your data themselves.

> it's also surprising how many privacy policies link to dead URLs or email addresses

Agreed, many privacy policies I've come across are crap and seem like it was copy/pasted from elsewhere. I just recently tried to delete an account last week, and the email address in their privacy policy was literally "support@[company]1234.test".

Name and shame.

I guess there's the concern for analytics/data harvesting - but it would be nice to see # of requests for data deletion are, even filterable by country - see who the top offenders are which would make it a bit easier to see who the privacy-concerned are the most concerned about.

We haven't released this yet but the numbers are right: https://yourdigitalrights.org/stats

Why is this site referencing google assets? sigh.

This is not enough. We need to mainstream using fake data whenever possible.

Is it true that Wikipedia doesn't allow its users to remove all their data including their data removal request message to Wikipedia?

Yes. I've tried to delete an old Wikipedia account. The most you can do is hide your profile.

I'm one of the founders of this service, nice to see it on the front page! Happy to answer questions.

How do you delete your data if a service bans your account and locks you out of the account?

Under GDPR they'll still have to comply.

If they have a data protection officer then send him an email. Else if you're in the EU get the Data Protection Authority (DPA) of your country in the loop.

Eugh. Yet more hassle to deal with as someone trying to build apps and deliver functionality. People should stop running to mommy to get their data deleted and just not share it in the first place. The internet was better before this kind of regulation and right to be forgotten. This sort of bureaucracy is just a drain on the productive members of society.

A lot of companies don’t give you a lot of choices. Want a credit card? We need to verify your identity. Oops, we sold that data to 3rd parties. And they sold it to spammers. If you store my personal data and then have a data breach due to gross negligence, who suffers? I do. Can I sue? Probably not.

I don’t want people passing around my data at all. It’s mine. And passing it around is creepy. “Just never fill in my data in a web form” is a grossly insufficient answer - I’d need to opt out of the entire modern economy.

There’s an easy way for companies to comply with these requests: just don’t store people’s data in the first place. If you need to store my data, I want your site to be secure. And I want consent. And I want to be able to opt out.

> drain on the productive members of society

Most of these rules target ad companies, and I contest the “productive” part. They can all jump in a lake.

> People should stop running to mommy to get their data deleted and just not share it in the first place.

Agreed that people should not just hand over personal data, however humans make mistakes and may later that it was a decision that they only now realize was not in their best interest. People open accounts/share personal data when they have to for work/business and then no longer work for that company, or they think they have to, or they have been coerced/tricked via dark patterns.

I've been deleting accounts and requesting my personal data be purged from accounts I created 5 to 10+ years ago - before I was aware of good digital hygiene and that these accounts have information that can later become a liability (whether it's personal/financial data that's been hacked, or the company sells my data to 3rd parties/marketers, or the company is bought out by another company with different privacy polices).

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