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New California Privacy Law Will Require Chrome/Edge/Safari to Offer Easy Opt-Outs for Data Sharing (9to5mac.com)

(Saturday October 11, 2025 @04:38PM (EditorDavid) from the the-way-the-cookie-crumbles dept.)


"California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the ' [1]California Opt Me Out Act ', which will require web browsers to include an easy, universal way for users to opt out of data collection and sales," reports the blog [2] 9to5Mac :

> [The law] requires browsers to provide a clear, one-click mechanism for Californians to opt out of data sharing across websites. The bill reads: "A business shall not develop or maintain a browser that does not include functionality configurable by a consumer that enables the browser to send an opt-out preference signal to businesses with which the consumer interacts through the browser...." Californians will need patience, though, as the law doesn't take effect until January 1, 2027.

Americans in some states — including California, Texas, Colorado, New Jersey and Maryland — "have the option to make those opt-out demands automatic whenever they surf the web," [3]reports the Washington Post . "But they can only do so if they use small browsers that voluntarily offer that option, such as DuckDuckGo, Firefox and Brave. What's new in California's law is that all browsers must give people the same option."

> That means soon in California, just using Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari and Microsoft's Edge can command companies not to sell your data or pass it along for ad targeting... It's an imperfect but potent and simple way to flex privacy rights — and becomes even more powerful with another simple privacy measure in California. Starting on January 1, California residents can fill out an online form once to completely and repeatedly wipe their data from hundreds of data brokers that package your personal information for sale.

But their article also suggests other ways readers can "try a one-click privacy option now."

"[S]ome national companies respect one-click privacy opt-out requests from everyone... This happens automatically if you use DuckDuckGo and Brave. You need to [4]change a setting with Firefox ."

"Download [5]Privacy Badger : The software from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a consumer privacy advocacy group, works in the background to order websites not to sell information they're collecting about you."

"Use [6]Permission Slip from Consumer Reports . Give the app basic information, and it will help you do much of the legwork to tell companies not to sell your information or to delete it, if you have the right to do so."



[1] https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/08/governor-newsom-signs-data-privacy-bills-to-protect-tech-users/

[2] https://9to5mac.com/2025/10/09/californias-latest-privacy-law-will-change-how-browsers-handle-tracking/

[3] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/a-one-click-button-to-protect-your-privacy-is-finally-real/ar-AA1OeBpt

[4] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/global-privacy-control

[5] https://privacybadger.org/

[6] https://www.permissionslipcr.com/



Opt Out as Default! (Score:2)

by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 )

With 3 layered are you really sure you want to make all your internet activity public so others can profit yes/no with no checked.

Guy wants to be President so bad... (Score:2)

by locater16 ( 2326718 )

If you're wondering why California is passing all these bills that would affect everyone in the US, it's cause ol Newsom is absolutely desperate to be President. Anything that generates national headlines for him is gonna happen.

I'll give bozo less than 2 years till he strokes out, but 3 more years of headlining from this guy, and that's just until elections.

Re: (Score:2)

by Local ID10T ( 790134 )

Damn. That Newsom guy is awesome. He writes bills, passes them thru the house and senate, and then signs them -All by himself! Does he also preside over the court when they are challenged? I bet he can do anything.

Re: (Score:2)

by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 )

He's incredible! It's especially amazing, given I remember this happening even back when he was just a child! (I'm older than he is)

The reason California rules typically affect the entire US is primarily due to its size. With 40 million people, businesses don't want to NOT be in California, and it's typically easier to just follow the more stringent California rules for a product line than to produce two different variations of a single product.

You mean: resurect the failed DNT=1 (Score:1)

by Trenjeska ( 306132 )

This already existed in browsers like firefox and was dropped, because browsers like chrome refused to implement it.

Maybe just remerge that PR and clone it to chrome?

(and jailtime for corpos not accepting this flag, starting at the ceo)

Umm... (Score:3)

by jjaa ( 2041170 )

No no no... this should work the other way round - users should OPT IN to have their data collected and sold

Does the Opt Out flag work? (Score:1)

by rambletamble ( 10229449 )

I use Firefox but I assumed that the Opt Out flag would be ignored by the great majority of sites.

Am I too cynical?

> (It's sorta like sed, but not. It's sorta like awk, but not. etc.)
Guilty as charged. Perl is happily ugly, and happily derivative.
-- Larry Wall in <1992Aug26.184221.29627@netlabs.com>