There are estimated to be 2500-4000 data brokers in the United States who are collecting, buying and selling your information. Vermont has become the first state to pass laws to regulate this data mining that is largely working in the dark with zero accountability. We need more laws like this and I’ll tell you what you can do in the meantime to take more control over your personal and private data.

Also in the news, Apple has announced some fantastic new security and privacy features for it’s upcoming iOS and macOS releases, Facebook has screwed up again, turning posts from 14M people public when they were supposed to be private, and My Heritage DNA service annouces that its 92M customer passwords were stolen.

For Further Insight:

* Opting out of data collection: https://www.stopdatamining.me/opt-out-list/

* Opting out of marketing, phone calls: https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2015/08/consumer-tips-top-ten-opt-outs/ 

* Know that they have on you: https://www.aboutthedata.com/portal/registration/step1 

* Help me to help you! Visit: https://patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons