Marketplace All-in-One California’s one-stop shop for data brokers to delete consumers' data
Mar 9, 2026
Nicole Turner-Lee, a Brookings Institution senior fellow on tech policy and digital equity. She explains California’s DROP tool and the Delete Act. She outlines what kinds of brokered data can be removed and the law’s limits. She discusses trade-offs between personalization and privacy and whether other states might copy this approach.
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California's DROP Restores Consumer Agency
- California's DROP tool gives residents a centralized way to request data brokers delete personal information under the 2023 Delete Act.
- Nicol Turner-Lee says it restores consumer agency and can limit sales of sensitive data like SSNs and search histories.
Actively Submit Deletion Requests
- Expect mixed results: DELETE requests can reduce targeted junk but require individuals to actively submit requests to clean their inboxes.
- Turner-Lee warns consumers may not know what to request because third-party brokers operate opaquely.
Deletion Reduces Identity Risks
- Deleting broker-held data reduces harms like identity theft and predatory targeting by cutting off resale to bad actors.
- Turner-Lee frames time and identity as primary assets vulnerable when brokers circulate data to dark web buyers.