<
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/i-asked-100-companies-for-my-data-some-deleted-it-instead/>
"I filed a request with McDonald’s earlier this month to access all of the
personal data the fast food company collected about me, and I received a
stunning 515-page report a few days later that detailed my app interactions in
granular detail and predicted I would never stop eating there.
Under the
California Consumer Privacy Act, I have the legal right to request
access to information from large companies that collect personal data. So I was
curious what others might have on me, and I spent the next week filing more
than 100 requests.
The CCPA went into effect in 2020, and three of its key provisions are the
right to opt out of the selling of personal information, the right to delete
that info, and the right to request a copy for yourself.
I focused solely on the latter—access requests—to better understand what data
is being collected. Most companies must list two ways for you to file. These
are often via a web form, phone number, or email address, as designated in
their privacy policy. After you submit a request, companies can take 45 days to
complete it.
My experience placing these data access requests was incredibly time-consuming,
from finding the right filing methods to verifying my identity multiple times.
Most exasperating during this process were the companies that either responded
to my access requests with messages concerning the deletion of information,
which I explicitly said not to do, or refused to process the request through a
method listed in their privacy policy.
Consumer advocates I spoke with were upset with how these requests were
handled. “That’s crazy,” said Ben Winters, director of AI and privacy at the
Consumer Federation of America. “That’s not an acceptable status quo.” Winters
sees these examples as exhibiting the weaknesses of policy frameworks that rely
on companies to act responsibly and in good faith."
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Cybersecurity: September 1, 2026
https://www.patreon.com/violetblue/posts/cybersecurity-1-168281961
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
