Global Privacy Control

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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]

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References

  1. ↑ "Global Privacy Control (GPC)". privacycg.github.io. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions | Global Privacy Control". globalprivacycontrol.org. Retrieved August 17, 2024. Who is supporting the development of GPC?
  3. ↑ "Global Privacy Control". Mozilla Support. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Vigliarolo, Brandon (2024-12-12). "Mozilla removing Do Not Track option from Firefox 135". The Register. Retrieved 2024-12-20.
  5. 1 2 "What is Global Privacy Control, the Do Not Track replacement? – Circuit Bulletin". Circuit Bulletin. 2024-12-20. Retrieved 2024-12-20.
  6. ↑ "Chrome Privacy Now!". Chrome Privacy Now!. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Turn "Do Not Track" on or off". Google Chrome Help. Google Inc.
  8. ↑ "Privacy Badger". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved August 17, 2024. What is Global Privacy Control (GPC)?
  9. ↑ "Global Privacy Control (GPC) Enabled by Default in DuckDuckGo Apps & Extensions". Spread Privacy. January 28, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Founding Organizations | Global Privacy Control". globalprivacycontrol.org. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 "California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)". State of California - Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General. October 15, 2018. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  12. ↑ 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.
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