This free privacy tool makes it super easy to see which sites are selling your data
This free privacy tool makes it super easy to see which sites are selling your data
https://www.zdnet.com/article/optmeowt-free-privacy-tool-stop-sites-selling-data/
Publish Date: 2026-03-18 09:02:00
Source Domain: www.zdnet.com
Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- GPC is a movement, started in 2020, to help you reclaim your privacy.
- There are browsers and browser extensions you can use.
- You’ll see if the site you are visiting is in compliance.
Have you ever noticed a link on a website you regularly visit that indicates you can opt out of the company selling your data? Probably not. Why? Because those links can be hiding in plain sight.
Also: How to stop iPhone apps from tracking you (and why you shouldn’t wait to do it)
Those links are there so that companies are in compliance with privacy regulations, and you have to click on them for every site you visit. What if you miss one? What if you simply forget? Well, at that point, your data has possibly been saved and sold.
That’s not a guarantee, but a warning. Data is gold to some organizations, and they go to great lengths to collect it, save it, and sell it.
You have a choice.
Opt out of selling your data
There’s a service called Global Privacy Control that offers extensions and/or links to browsers and apps that support the cause. This service began in 2020 and was inspired by the California Consumer Privacy Act, which gives California residents the right to opt out of any business that would sell their data. Currently, GPC is available for:
A word of caution
In the above list, you’ll see OptMeowt. That was the first tool I tested, and I found it to be quite simple. However, there’s a slight caveat with this. On the LayerX Security site, which tells you if an extension is safe, OptMeowt is listed as a 5.0/10 on its security index. Although that rating doesn’t sound too terrible, there are a couple of indicators that the extension could be problematic.
Those indicators come in the form of two critical warnings related to permission scope. OK, that sounds ominous, right?
Sure, but the warnings are for access to network traffic and scripting. As far as the first…
