Your data privacy rights in California
California residents have an affirmative legal right to demand that a business delete their personal information, under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act. A business has 45 days to respond to a verified request. That is a deadline with a statute behind it, not a suggestion — and it is the instrument we file on your behalf rather than a courtesy opt-out form.
- Statute
- CCPA/CPRA
- Citation
- Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.100 et seq.
- In effect since
- January 1, 2020
- Right to deletion
- Yes
- Response deadline
- 45 days
- Enforced by
- CPPA + AG
See your California listings
Brokers index by location, so a CA search returns different results than a national one. Two fields, no card.
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DROP — one request reaches every registered broker
California’s Delete Act created the Deletion Request and Opt-out Platform, run by the California Privacy Protection Agency. It opened to consumers on January 1, 2026.
Since August 1, 2026, every data broker registered in California is legally required to check DROP at least every 45 days and delete the personal information of everyone who has filed. Not asked to. Required to, with per-day administrative penalties for non-registration that were doubled by SB 361.
That is one filing that reaches 603 registered brokers, versus 603 separate opt-out forms that each broker may simply refuse.
- Platform
- databroker.drop.privacy.ca.gov
- Live since
- January 1, 2026
- Broker compliance mandatory
- August 1, 2026
- Brokers must poll every
- 45 days
You can file it yourself, free, at databroker.drop.privacy.ca.gov. We file it as part of every plan, then verify that each broker actually complied — which is the part DROP does not do for you.
How to use the CCPA/CPRA against a data broker
This is the process we automate. You are entitled to run it yourself, and it works.
- 01Find the broker's designated privacy channelEvery broker operating in California publishes one. If they registered in California, the exact URL is on their state filing — we list it on each broker page.
- 02Send a written deletion request that cites the statuteName the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.100 et seq.) explicitly and state that you are exercising your right to deletion. Citing the statute changes how the request is routed inside the company — it moves from a support queue to a compliance queue.
- 03State the deadline on the face of the requestWrite that you expect a substantive response within 45 days as the statute requires. Ask for written confirmation of deletion.
- 04Verify your identity, carefullyThey may ask you to prove who you are. Give the minimum that satisfies the request. Never send a full Social Security number, and be wary of any broker that asks for more identifying data than it already holds.
- 05Keep everythingSave the request, the timestamp and any response. If the 45 days pass in silence, that record is what you file with the CPPA or the Attorney General.
- 06Re-check in 90 daysDeletion is not permanent. Brokers re-acquire your data from upstream sources and re-list you, typically within 3–6 months. This is the step almost everyone skips, and it is why one-off removal does not hold.
California is one of only four states that require data brokers to register and publish the list. That means you can look up who is legally operating here and hold them to their own filed contact details.
Automatic relief elements under SB 731 for many convictions after the sentence is complete and no new offence occurs.
Important: automatic relief does not notify you, and it does not notify the background-check companies. People are sealed and never told, and keep failing background checks anyway.
This page summarises statute for general information. It is not legal advice, and the details of any state privacy law change with amendments and rulemaking. Check the primary source before relying on a deadline or a citation.
The sites most likely to be showing your California address
Free, unpaywalled people-search sites are the ones a stranger actually uses. Start here and work down.
- Advanced Background ChecksTypically 24–72 hours
- BeenVerifiedTypically 24 hours – 7 days
- CHECKPEOPLE, LLCTypically 3–7 days
- ClustrMapsTypically 2–7 days
- Cyber Background ChecksTypically 24–72 hours
- FastPeopleSearchTypically Minutes – 72 hours
- Free Data Services, LLCTypically Minutes – 24 hours
- InfoTracerTypically 3–10 days
- Insightbridge LLCTypically 10–30 days