{"id":405046,"date":"2026-07-20T07:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T07:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/405046\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T07:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T07:45:07","slug":"californias-delete-act-takes-effect-aug-1-requiring-brokers-to-delete-personal-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/405046\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s Delete Act takes effect Aug. 1, requiring brokers to delete personal data"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Californians are getting a new tool <\/a>to help protect their personal information from data brokers that collect and sell consumer data.<\/p>\n

Beginning Aug. 1, registered data brokers will be required to delete a consumer’s personal information within 45 days of receiving a verified request under California’s Delete Act, also known as Senate Bill 362.<\/p>\n

State leaders say the law marks a major shift in how personal information is handled.<\/p>\n

“Personal information should not be treated like a commodity,” said California Senator Josh Becker.<\/p>\n

Every time someone browses the internet, uses a mobile app, shops online or interacts on social media, they leave behind a digital trail.<\/p>\n

Senator Josh Becker and CalPrivacy to discuss DROP, California\u2019s groundbreaking tool from the Delete Act (SB 362) that lets you permanently delete your data from data brokers and take back control of your privacy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Privacy advocates say data brokers collect those “digital breadcrumbs,” analyze them and sell the information to businesses, advertisers and other organizations, often without consumers realizing it.<\/p>\n

“We’ve seen reports of data brokers listing and selling some of the most vulnerable information about individuals, about immigrants, people seeking medical care, people living with serious health conditions or people recovering from trauma,” said Becker.<\/p>\n

The information collected can include:<\/p>\n

Phone numbersEmail addressesSocial media activityWeb browsing historyPurchase historyHome addressesPrecise geolocation data<\/p>\n

Privacy experts warn that location data is especially sensitive because it can reveal where people live, work, receive medical care or spend their time.<\/p>\n

“There are 110 data brokers that collect our precise geolocation. That makes it easier for the government or other entities to actually track our movements,” said Tom Kemp, the Executive Director of California Privacy Protection Agency.<\/p>\n

How the Delete Act works<\/p>\n

The Delete Act created a free online tool called DROP, developed by the California Privacy Protection Agency and the California Department of Technology.<\/p>\n

Instead of contacting dozens of companies individually, Californians can submit a single verified request through DROP, which is then sent to every registered data broker in the state.<\/p>\n

According to state officials, more than 258,000 Californians have already signed up to use the service.<\/p>\n

“With the Delete Act and DROP, you now have a real choice to say no to your information being sold to these entities,” said Kemp.<\/p>\n

The DROP portal launched on Jan. 1, but beginning Aug. 1, registered data brokers must comply with deletion requests within 45 days. They must continue honoring those requests every 45 days going forward.<\/p>\n

Companies that fail to comply with the law could face financial penalties.<\/p>\n

State officials say data brokers may be fined:<\/p>\n

$200 per day for failing to register as a data broker.$200 per day for failing to delete a consumer’s personal information after receiving a valid request.<\/p>\n

Officials say the goal is to give Californians more control over who profits from their personal information.<\/p>\n

“DROP is putting the decision of who does or does not profit from personal information into the hands of Californians\u2014for free,” said Liana Bailey, the California Department of Technology Director.<\/p>\n

State leaders say submitting a deletion request through the online portal takes about five to six minutes. The service is currently available only to California residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Californians are getting a new tool to help protect their personal information from data…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-405046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405046","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=405046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}