Permission Slip Stops Data Brokers

The collection of our personal data to then be packaged and sold is nothing new. TVs do it, websites do it, and companies all over the world do it. It's why GDPR and CCPA exist. But what do you do if you live elsewhere? That's where Consumer Reports comes in.

A new service + app called Permission Slip is a free offering from the long-trusted review site. In a nutshell it sends data deletion requests to companies on your behalf. Those requests demand those companies comply with the law. And it is pretty seamless. For someone like me who takes data privacy seriously, I jumped on board right away.

I've been using Permission Slip for about a month and it is really simple. You flip through cards of companies. When you see one you've possibly interacted with, you tap a button to fire off a deletion request. Permission Slip takes all your info it has already been given by you when you first use it, composes a letter, and sends it to that company's proper department. It then monitors the requests to keep you updated.

To sweeten the pot even more, they have an automated area too that continuously monitors data brokers and automatically sends deletion requests out. All-in-all, it's a one-stop shop for getting your information off the market.

There are few companies I would trust to actually do this in an up-and-up fashion and Consumer Reports is one of them. They have always operated with integrity and this is easily a service they could charge for. But they do it for free. Their App Privacy label on the App Store literally shows only contact information and usage data as what's collected. When you think about the service they're offering, it is impossible to do so without you giving them your information to send the requests and the same goes for monitoring those requests.

If this is something that interests you, Permission Slip is out for iOS and is coming soon to Android.