Global Privacy Control
Global Privacy Control (GPC) is a proposed HTTP header field and DOM property that can be used to inform websites of the user's wish to have their information not be sold or used by ad trackers.[1] GPC was developed in 2020 by privacy technology researchers such as Wesleyan University professor Sebastian Zimmeck and former Chief Technologist of the Federal Trade Commission Ashkan Soltani, as well as a group of privacy-focused companies including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Automattic (owner of Tumblr and WordPress), and more.[2]
GPC has been implemented by Mozilla Firefox,[3] Brave,[4] and DuckDuckGo Private Browser.[5][4] GPC is not yet supported by Google Chrome[6] or Microsoft Edge,[4] despite Chrome still allowing users to enable the now-deprecated Do Not Track header.[7] However, there are third-party extensions available for Chrome that enable sending the GPC header during HTTP requests, including the EFF's Privacy Badger extension[8] and the DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials add-on[9] amongst others.
The New York Times and Washington Post have both implemented the signal.[5] The GPC is supported by Firefox creator Mozilla[10] as well as the California Attorney General.[11]
One key difference between the Do Not Track header and GPC is that GPC is a valid do-not-sell-my-personal-information signal according to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which stipulates that websites are legally required to respect a signal sent by users who want to opt-out of having their personal data sold.[11] In July 2021, the California Attorney General clarified through an FAQ that under law, the Global Privacy Control signal must be honored.[11]
On August 24, 2022, the California Attorney General announced Sephora paid a $1.2 million settlement for allegedly failing to process opt-out requests via a user-enabled global privacy control signal.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ "Global Privacy Control (GPC)". privacycg.github.io. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions | Global Privacy Control". globalprivacycontrol.org. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
Who is supporting the development of GPC?
- ^ "Global Privacy Control". Mozilla Support. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
- ^ a b c Vigliarolo, Brandon (2024-12-12). "Mozilla removing Do Not Track option from Firefox 135". The Register. Retrieved 2024-12-20.
- ^ a b "What is Global Privacy Control, the Do Not Track replacement? – Circuit Bulletin". Circuit Bulletin. 2024-12-20. Retrieved 2024-12-20.
- ^ "Chrome Privacy Now!". Chrome Privacy Now!. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
- ^ "Turn "Do Not Track" on or off". Google Chrome Help. Google Inc.
- ^ "Privacy Badger". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
What is Global Privacy Control (GPC)?
- ^ "Global Privacy Control (GPC) Enabled by Default in DuckDuckGo Apps & Extensions". Spread Privacy. January 28, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
- ^ "Founding Organizations | Global Privacy Control". globalprivacycontrol.org. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
- ^ a b c "California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)". State of California - Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General. October 15, 2018. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
- ^ Merken, Sara (August 24, 2022). "Sephora to pay $1.2 mln in privacy settlement with Calif. AG over data sales". Reuters. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2024.