If you frequent the internet, you likely noticed that almost every service you use is updating their privacy policy. With one’s private information being a valuable commodity to both capitalist and the government alike, it’s important to know why things like this are happening.
It’s because of the European Union. They’re looking to hold companies more accountable with people’s information with the General Data Protection Act (GDPR). The 261-page law required less bloated and more simplified opt-in privacy policies. This means that users have to tell the company what they’re willing to share, they can’t be set to “share all” by default. It also contains a number of clauses that help with stolen or misused information.
Even though this is a European issue, many online businesses operate internationally. To keep things simple, these companies are treating all of their users as if they were European users.
While it may be inconvenient, it’s best to comb through these emails, reacting accordingly. This is a great chance to help scrub some of your personal information off of internet databases while keeping you on the lists you want to keep. Many newsletters require you to re-confirm that they can keep your email. So if you ignore them, you’ll be removed from said newsletters.