The short answer – yes! At least it is in the United States. Buying and selling any kind of personal information online is illegal. But the same isn’t true for other countries. They don’t necessarily have the same laws that we do as it relates to cyber-crimes. In fact, United States regulatory agencies have no jurisdiction to prosecute fraudsters acting on websites and chat rooms located in other countries.
As of 2020, a privacy law that gives people more control over how websites track and sell their personal information has gone into effect. It’s called the California Consumer Privacy Act, and currently only applies to the state of California.
This means that companies are legally obligated to give California residents the opportunity to not only see how their online information is being tracked, but also how its being sold (name, address, purchasing history, browsing history, etc.) and most importantly how to opt-out.
It’s not as easy as it sounds, and many websites will give pushback before finally taking down information. It takes a lot of time, persistence, and patience. And of course there are is our company, Privacy for Cops, which takes the hassle out of the whole process and does it for you. More information about us can be found on our website at https://privacyforcops.org.
In the meantime, several other states are working on similar bills, so be on the lookout for them in the near future.