23h ago

I wish there was a "Right to have your account deleted"

Basically what it says in the title. Too many sites make you jump through all these hoops to have your account deleted, and sometimes even then don't do it.

I know about justdeleteme, but unfortunately that doesn't cover a lot of things. Threatening legal action with my state's attorney general—in one case, anyway—didn't work. Maybe the EU will pass some legislation that will carry over to the US . . .

Anyway, don't mind me, just griping.

EDIT: Sort of like the "unsubscribe" button you get at the bottom of some emails. Did they have to pass a law to get that enacted?

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EU already has this with the GDPR. Only limitation are retention periods required by law, like employee data needs to be kept for ten years in Germany for example, but for the duration whoever has the data must block it from being processed for anything but the legal requirment, as that becomes the legal basis for processing (storing in this case) and no other uses are allowed until deletion.
Only applies to EU citizens though plenty companies have implemented straightforward ways to delete an account for everyone.
- VPN to Spain, you'll find that a lot more options for deleting your account will be available.
  (Spain aggressively pursues GDPR violators)
  
  ¡Viva España!
  
  I'm Spanish and currently Spain has a very left oriented policy, at least compared to the most other EU countries. But the future remains unclear, "dark forces are strong, my little padavan".
  
  Thanks! I've been German and even Swedish, but never a Spaniard. The only real challenge is that so many incompetent web developers ignore language preferences and look only a country of origin for site text, and I don't understand Spanish.

Wouldn't this fall under existing "Right To Be Forgotten"/privacy rules in the EU??
- It does. Art. 17 of the GDPR.

Maybe the EU will pass some legislation that will carry over to the US
GDPR requires the right to have your data deleted at least, but a lot of companies will only allow that if you are within the EU (because of profit and spite, I suppose). Though some just allowed it for everyone instead
Similar for California Consumer Privacy Act where a lot of companies will only let you do the stuff it requires if you are within California
Sort of like the “unsubscribe” button you get at the bottom of some emails. Did they have to pass a law to get that enacted?
Yes, see the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003

There was a rulethat was close to being enacted by the FTC that had to do with that, the "click-to-cancel" rule. It was supposed to go into effect 2 weeks ago.
It would have required companies to "make it as easy to cancel, as it was to sign up" for tons of things in the US.
It said that companies had to provide an easy way to cancel, that took equally long as signing up or less, AND via the same medium. So companies couldn't make you call to cancel if you signed up online.
Unfortunately, it was stopped by the 8th circuit court, who deemed it "outside the FTC's authority" which is absolute bullshit, that's why they exist.
I really hope it manages to get pushed through somehow, because so many companies are just the absolute worst scumbags and constantly getting away with it.
edit: it's not quite the same as deleting an account, i realize that. it still would have enabled a lot of these 'services' to get shut down easily.
- I'm sure conservative were all over that "activist judge", right?

Right to be forgotten is supposed to cover data deletion, though the EU has much stronger protections than the US.

Sounds like you want to live in the EU because we already have that.

the CAN-SPAM act gave us the unsubscribe button in emails 22 years ago. Before that companies would often make it pretty hard to unsubscribe. I think it's being undone though.

It already exists in the EU (and I think California has passed something similar?). One trick you can use is to change your location to an EU country and then request deletion.

I recently switched from Enpass to Bitwarden and as a result decided that, while I was at it, I would delete accounts I don't use anymore. Oh boy, some were incredibly difficult to delete. Some would only anonymise data and remove login access. And one outright refused to delete my account. Unfortunately New Zealand privacy law only covers accessing and changing personal information so I'm shit out of luck with threatening anything legal to force that company to remove my account. One company (Klarna) has taken months to respond and since stopped replying to my request to delete and I haven't been able to find a way to escalate my request :/
Likely from now on I will check account deletion policies before making an account and it will be a hard pass if they don't allow account deletion.

As others have noted, the EU's GDPR does contain a Right to Delete. Some states have implemented the right on an individual basis, but it's going to be difficult to implement on a national basis because of the current political climate. A nationwide federal privacy law was in the works, but it contained a poison pill in the form of federal preemption, meaning that it would set a hard ceiling for data privacy that states wouldn't be free to exceed with their own legislation.
If you've got the time, I would encourage you to reach out to your representative in the state legislature to advocate for a state privacy law. You can point towards California's CCPA or Colorado's CPA as examples of already active privacy law. Companies are already supposed to be in compliance with these laws, but only with respect to consumers in those states. Point out that there shouldn't be much (if any) additional burden to extend that protection to your state. Your state AG can't enforce your privacy rights if they're not enshrined in legislation.

100% agree. This should be as easy as creating a new account.
Alas, this :
Maybe the EU will pass some legislation that will carry over to the US . . .
Is highly unlikely.
The EU just knelt once more to the USA (and to Trump) and that won't end here. I have little doubt USA next target in the EU will be most if not all regulations regarding data handling/protection. US businesses need data more than ever (at the very least because of AI), including EU citizens data.
- EU already has that. It's called GDPR (see art. 17 & 19).
  
  Not talking about what we have (I'm French, thx I know GDPR) but what I think will be the next target of the US. And, to me, it will be those regulations making it so hard for US businesses to do whatever they want with our data.

They might delete your account but the data is something else.
- That's why, when I have to email someplace to request account deletion, I write "Please delete my account and all the information associated with it." Probably doesn't make a difference, but worth a shot I guess.
  
  I hear you.
  It was better in the old days when you could just write "drop table' in the username prompt.

As far as I've seen, on 99% of websites that I use, there's a Delete account button. And I believe that's because of GDPR.

It's always better to avoid as much possible to make an account and not before you have checked all conditions, to not regret it later. In some sides it's almost impossible to delete your account (eg.Facebook, adding that if you after request it it last several weeks to delete your account, all your content pass to be property of Facebook (see TOS)

It should be a human right, worldwide for all humans.

I have an old account I am locked out of due to 2FA I don't have access to. I really want to get rid of that account, due to its content, which is publicly available for anyone to see. But alas, 'tis not possible. MFers running the forum won't answer my emails, whether I request sensibly and professionally for help, or threaten them with GDPR. Or act like I want my account back for use. GDPR people also haven't been very helpful (I've gone as far as providing evidence of contact. Have once heard "They 'Murican. Not EU. \shrugs"). Having cleaned out old, unused accounts, finding said account is easy due to a lack of other stuff to fill up search results, and having used a common username of mine for it was also dumb of me. I dream of the day said account is gone, for my peace of mind. But alas, at least half a decade trying. And it got me nowhere

34 comments