“Do not sell my data”

Almost every day, people save personal data on a website in order to buy a good or service and allow cookies. The user even signs user agreements without reading them most of the time.

On the other hand, the data that the person gives voluntarily and collected with cookies is beneficial in many respects for the data controller. For example, analytical data collected with cookies are used to ensure the efficiency of the website or to provide an easier experience for the user.

A solution has been provided for the website user regarding the sale of personal data with the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”)(2018). Along with this law adopted in the state of California on June 28, 2018, it also includes the basic principles regarding the protection of personal data and personal data, which are accepted by the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), emphasizing the consumer's right to privacy. The CCPA has been implemented from 1 January 2020.

The user can prevent his data from being sold to third parties via the link that appears as "Do Not Sell My Data" on the site and is easily accessible to the user.

However, this link applies to businesses in California. If certain conditions are met, businesses have to include this link on their own sites. On the other hand, it would be beneficial to apply it internationally after a few changes.

Although companies and businesses in California need to include the link on their sites, the value of privacy and data has begun to be understood with the popularity of personal data and personal data protection very recently. Therefore, considering the accepted cookies and the data allowed to be processed with explicit consent, it is seen that the concept of "processing" is an element that cannot be clearly understood by the person whether the sale of personal data is in question. With the outright refusal to sell it, consumers can at least have more say over their data.

Conversely, with this application, the sale of personal data is in a sense legitimized. Awareness can be created by the presence of a button for not selling the data, but including the link on the sites may lead to the idea that it can be sold under normal conditions, and as a natural consequence of this, the sale of personal data.

As a result, in our opinion, first of all, it is necessary to raise awareness about personal data. Then, in the clarification texts, it is necessary to inform the consumer/related person that personal data will not only be shared with third-party organizations but also sold. It is believed that the existence of privacy and cookie policies that the user can access in one step, as well as express consent for any processing of personal data, will be beneficial. At the end of the day, the most important thing is to raise awareness about our personal data and to access the policies of the websites with this awareness.