A number of technology companies have come together to create the Global Privacy Control (GPC), a new standard to help ensure consumers can feel safe about how their personal data is used on participating websites.
The GPC is a standard for web browsers and websites to simplify making and handling online privacy requests, in particular requests like "Do Not Sell" (do not sell my data to third parties without my consent). This claims that users have lacked tools and standards to invoke privacy rights offered as part of GDPR and CCPA, so rather than having to click on individual links across many websites, users can communicate their privacy preferences in one step via the GPC.
Rob Shavell, CEO of Abine, said the launch of GPC and associated technology aims to change the issue of consumer rights outlined being complicated to enforce. “The industry has relied upon this ‘nothing will happen in practice’ understanding to avoid both real investment and real change. The launch of GPC and associated technology aims to change this status quo."
The GPR will enable browsers and extensions to send a signal to participating websites to communicate a ‘Do Not Sell’ request to limit the sale or sharing of the user's personal data.
In this phase of the rollout, individuals can enable GPC by installing a supported browser or extension such as Blur by Abine or by going to the official Global Privacy Control website to download one of the other participating browsers and extensions from the EFF, DuckDuckGo, Brave, Mozilla, and Disconnect.
In an email to Infosecurity, Tom Pendergast, chief learning officer at MediaPro, said: “Anything that makes complicated privacy controls easy and transparent increases the feeling that people can control their internet experience—and that’s a good thing.
“I hope this is the first in a new wave of consumer privacy enabling technology. This looks like a great leap forward in the amount of control offered to individuals. Measures, such as the CCPA and the GDPR, lay the groundwork that gives individuals power, but it’s been too difficult to exercise. This makes it easy.”