{"id":142108,"date":"2026-01-20T21:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/142108\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T21:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:32:08","slug":"californians-begin-using-drop-tool-asking-data-brokers-to-delete-their-personal-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/142108\/","title":{"rendered":"Californians begin using &#8216;DROP&#8217; tool, asking data brokers to delete their personal data"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Jan. 1, the California Privacy Protection Agency launched a new digital tool allowing Californians to request that registered data brokers delete their personal information, and so far, more than 155,000 residents have used the tool.<\/p>\n<p>The Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, or DROP, which Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Privacy Protection Agency <a href=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/california-drop-data-brokers-opt-out-delete-tool\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced<\/a> in December,\u00a0allows residents to send a single request to\u00a0the more than\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cppa.ca.gov\/data_broker_registry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">500 data brokers<\/a> that are\u00a0registered with the state to delete any personal information they hold.\u00a0The tool\u2019s creation was mandated as part of the 2023 <a href=\"http:\/\/statescoop.com\/california-legislature-passes-delete-act-to-protect-consumer-data\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Delete Act<\/a>, a novel data privacy law that required data brokers to fulfill the requests of residents to delete their data, and required brokers to disclose the types of personal information they collect.<\/p>\n<p>Brokers must start processing deletion requests Aug. 1.<\/p>\n<p>Data brokers, the state said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.ca.gov\/2026\/01\/20\/governor-newsom-announces-first-in-the-nation-privacy-tool-allowing-californians-to-block-the-sale-of-their-data\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">press release<\/a>, \u201cquietly work to collect, combine, analyze, trade, and sell personal information, usually without a person\u2019s knowledge or explicit consent, creating risks for fraud and other nefarious outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDROP is a game changer for consumer privacy,\u201d Tom Kemp, executive director of the California Privacy Protection Agency, said in the release. \u201cIt\u2019s the first platform of its kind and it makes exercising privacy rights simple, free, and accessible for millions of Californians. It gives people a straightforward way to take control of their personal information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The state said DROP, which was developed by CalPrivacy and the California Department of Technology, is the \u201cfirst government-built platform of its kind in the world,\u201d and it reflects \u201cNewsom\u2019s broader commitment to protecting consumer rights and leveraging technology to serve the public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrivacy only works if people can trust the technology behind it,\u201d Liana Bailey-Crimmins, California\u2019s chief information officer, said in the release. \u201cOur promise was to deliver an easy-to-use and secure platform for all Californians to decide whether or not data brokers can use or sell their personal information \u2014 and that\u2019s exactly what DROP does.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/dY969nH0-1.jpg\" alt=\"Keely Quinlan\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tWritten by Keely Quinlan<br \/>\n\t\t\tKeely Quinlan reports on privacy and digital government for StateScoop. She was an investigative news reporter with Clarksville Now in Tennessee, where she resides, and her coverage included local crimes, courts, public education and public health. Her work has appeared in Teen Vogue, Stereogum and other outlets. She earned her bachelor\u2019s in journalism and master\u2019s in social and cultural analysis from New York University.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Jan. 1, the California Privacy Protection Agency launched a new digital tool allowing Californians to request that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,47209,71324,63093,71372,20537,3579],"class_list":["post-142108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-privacy-protection-agency","tag-data-privacy","tag-delete-act","tag-state-local-news","tag-states","tag-tech-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}