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Your neighbor received a "personalized" letter in the mail about his retirement plan. It refers him to the website of a company he's never heard of.
Your best friend receives at least once a month an email from his grocery store with discounts and coupons "just for him."
He clicks on it and scans the coupon at the store the next time he goes.
The people of Oregon. He clicks on it and scans the coupon at the store the next time he goes.
Oregonians experience situations like this every day. In an age when companies buy, sell and use our information, often without our knowledge or permission, it seems harder and harder to avoid.
But not all hope for privacy is lost. We can control who uses, collects or sells our information by exercising our rights under the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act and teaching others what those rights are.
All you need is a computer, Internet access and some time with your loved ones.
Start the conversation
We create personal data everywhere, every day, but most of us don't think of it that way. We only think of it as spam calls, personalized ads or junk mail. Look for those common instances to start the conversation!
"Another unwanted message, Grandma? Our personal information, such as your phone number, is shared among many companies. They often do it without our permission!"
Create a connection between these moments and data privacy in your
Lack of data privacy may seem like an inevitable part of life, but that doesn't mean we can't have control over our information. While an unwanted text message may be a minor annoyance for some, it's the tip of the iceberg when it comes to companies collecting, using, sharing and selling our information for
profit.
"You know, there's a new law in Oregon that allows us to control who
has our information and, more importantly, limit what
they can do with it.
There are things I don't want companies to know about me, and it's great
that we now have some control over that."
Sit down and get to thinking
"I can sit down and show you what we can do.... Do you have 30 minutes
to go through it together?""Let's start by creating a list of the places you visit, the things
you do, the apps you use, the mail or news you're
subscribed to. It doesn't have to be a perfect list, but it's a great way
to start seeing who might have which information."
Log on to the computer and start the application
"So grandma, what would you like to do now that we have a list of
companies that have your information? And remember, we can do these things one step at a time.""You want the company to remove the information they have on you? Well, let's do a keyword search like 'delete' or 'remove' to make that request directly."
Take it slow, contact and follow up
"These companies have to respond to today's request in 45 days. I'll remind you next month. If they don't respond, we can sit down at the computer and file a quick complaint with the Oregon Department of Justice."
Arm yourself with resources
Get the resources and support on our website to feel prepared for this conversation!
Oregon Department of Justice - For those ready to take control of their data.
Electronic Frontier Foundation - For those looking to dig deeper into data and digital privacy:
Your data belongs to you, but not all of us have the ability or knowledge to keep our information private. The effectiveness of the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act depends on all of us, and that means helping the people around us so that we can all exercise our collective rights under the law.
