--- title: Californians' data deletion requests, DROP, become... description: California's Delete Request Opt-out Platform (DROP) becomes enforceable on August 1, requiring registered data brokers to honor consumer requests to stop... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/californians-data-deletion-requests-drop-become-enforceable-aug-1-qsiswyqsr twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Californians' data deletion requests, DROP, become enforceable Aug. 1 | daily.dev og:description: California's Delete Request Opt-out Platform (DROP) becomes enforceable on August 1, requiring registered data brokers to honor consumer requests to stop... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/californians-data-deletion-requests-drop-become-enforceable-aug-1-qsiswyqsr og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/QsISwYQSR.png og:image:alt: Californians' data deletion requests, DROP, become enforceable Aug. 1 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Californians' data deletion requests, DROP, become enforceable Aug. 1 **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary California's Delete Request Opt-out Platform (DROP) becomes enforceable on August 1, requiring registered data brokers to honor consumer requests to stop selling personal information within 45 days. Instead of contacting roughly 600 data brokers individually, California residents can submit a single request through the DROP website. About 350,000 Californians have already signed up since January. Non-compliant brokers face fines of $200 per day per affected resident, and Cal Privacy has already fined 12 brokers for failing to register in the system. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 47 comments across hackernews (as of 2026-08-03). **TL;DR:** Commenters are broadly supportive of California's data broker deletion mechanism (DROP) but raise practical concerns about its scope, enforcement, and edge cases like HN comment deletion, DUNS number spam, and jurisdiction over non-California businesses. **Sentiment:** 35% positive · 40% mixed · 25% skeptical **The case for** - The DROP system could create real pressure on companies to reduce data collection if compliance becomes burdensome enough. - Automatic monthly deletion requests could meaningfully limit surveillance capitalism over time. - The law's $200/day per-Californian fine gives it real teeth for enforcement. **The pushback** - HN's own comment deletion policy is inadequate for safety — reassigning comments to a random shared ID is trivially de-anonymizable. - Registering for a DUNS number (required for app store submissions) appears to trigger significant spam call/text activity, with little recourse. - The DROP mechanism doesn't cover entities that aren't classified as 'data brokers,' leaving many data-collecting companies outside its scope. - Jurisdiction over out-of-state companies that don't exchange money with California users is legally ambiguous. - Unregistered data brokers are entirely outside the system, and notifying them of a deletion request could expose more data than they already have. **By community** - hackernews (mixed): Commenters welcome the DELETE Act's intent but debate its practical limits — HN comment deletion, DUNS spam, jurisdictional reach, and gaps for non-broker data collectors all draw skepticism alongside cautious optimism. **Hottest debate:** Whether HN's practice of reassigning deleted comments to a shared random user ID is an adequate privacy protection, given that it is trivially linkable back to the original author. **Open questions** - Does the DROP system cover credit reporting agencies or other FCRA-regulated entities? - How does jurisdiction work for companies that provide free services (no money exchanged) to California residents? - What recourse exists for data collected by unregistered or non-qualifying data brokers? - Will companies respond to deletion-request friction by genuinely reducing data collection, or simply by locking users out of features? **Highlights** > And it’s utterly useless, because your username and all comments get THE SAME random user ID. So once someone identifies that ID as you, it does nothing. When I asked dang to do better after me and my family got death threats online, dang told me “tough luck” To this day thousands of my comments from my old username are on this site and trivially east to link to my real name. (Links to my website, etc) > — [testing22321 on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49149727) > Only if HN counts as a "data broker" under the corresponding law [0]. It states: > “Data broker” means a business that knowingly collects and sells to third parties the personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not have a direct relationship. “Data broker” does not include any of the following: > An entity to the extent that it is covered by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681 et seq.). > An entity to the extent that it is covered by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Public Law 106-102) and implementing regulations. > An entity to the extent that it is covered by the Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act (Article 6.6 (commencing with Section 791) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Insurance Code). > An entity, or a business associate of a covered entity, to the extent their processing of personal information is exempt under Section 1798.146. For purposes of this paragraph, “business associate” and “covered entity” have the same meanings as defined in Section 1798.146 [1]. I don't think HN counts as a "data broker" under this definition since they state that they "do not collect any Personal Information unless you choose to provide your email address and/or information in the "about" field" for HN accounts and "do not sell or share your Personal Information (as those terms are defined under the CCPA)." [0]: https://cppa.ca.gov/regulations/pdf/data_broker_reg_delete_a... [1]: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio.... > — [aw1621107 on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49149449) > I hope other states adopt this. One of the biggest mistakes I have made is giving my real phone number to Dun & Bradstreet. Now the spam calls and messages (from people they sold my info to) won't stop. I don't want to change my phone number. > — [petilon on hackernews · 4 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49149438) > I've been thinking of making a service which automatically sends deletion requests for all my service companies every month. Like, I currently keep a bunch of spyware features in my car turned of, but I have to keep location turned on to use the built in navigation which keeps track of range for me. Would be nice to have a ceiling on that data's retention. Long term, if compliance with data deletion requests becomes a pain, maybe companies will finally give us an opt out of surveillance capitalism? Or maybe they'll just lock me out of my own car (I guess it's their car since I don't have root on it, lol) > — [igor47 on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49149303) > I noticed this too. It's a number I've had for years and have barely given out to anyone. Registered for a DUNS number last month and have been getting all sorts of spam calls from all different area codes. I assumed it was due to the DUNS form. I noticed D&B have recently had FTC violations/settlements but not sure they touch this specific situation, but I'm honestly curious if there's anything we can do about this. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/09/... > — [ThePinion on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49150515) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49148987) · 31 points · 47 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [California’s DROP Platform Launches: What Enterprise B2B SaaS Companies Need to Know About Data Deletion Compliance](https://daily.dev/posts/california-s-drop-platform-launches-what-enterprise-b2b-saas-companies-need-to-know-about-data-dele-oi1zmz9f5) · Security Boulevard · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Massachusetts votes to pass new privacy rights bill that bans sale of precise location data](https://daily.dev/posts/massachusetts-votes-to-pass-new-privacy-rights-bill-that-bans-sale-of-precise-location-data-fcpipvlfc) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#data-privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/data-privacy) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/californians-data-deletion-requests-drop-become-enforceable-aug-1-qsiswyqsr) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Californians' data deletion requests, DROP, become enforceable Aug. 1","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/californians-data-deletion-requests-drop-become-enforceable-aug-1-qsiswyqsr","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/californians-data-deletion-requests-drop-become-enforceable-aug-1-qsiswyqsr"},"datePublished":"2026-08-02T23:27:14.212Z","dateModified":"2026-08-03T02:58:31.036Z","description":"California's Delete Request Opt-out Platform (DROP) becomes enforceable on August 1, requiring registered data brokers to honor consumer requests to stop...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/112925d8fc511e9fd7d646bb7f0827e3?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/112925d8fc511e9fd7d646bb7f0827e3?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hacker News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hacker News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/hn","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/californians-data-deletion-requests-drop-become-enforceable-aug-1-qsiswyqsr","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"security,data-privacy","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hacker News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Californians' data deletion requests, DROP, become enforceable Aug. 1"}]} ```