[Infowarrior] - World Privacy Forum's Top Ten Opt Outs

[Richard Forno]

  As privacy experts, we are frequently asked about “opting out,” and  
which opt outs we think are the most important. This list is a  
distillation of ideas for opting out that the World Privacy Forum has  
developed over the years from responding to those questions. The list  
below does not contain all opt outs that are available. Rather, it  
contains the opt outs that we believe are the most important and will  
be the most useful to the most consumers.

Many people have told us that they think opting out is confusing. We  
agree. Opting out can range from the not-too-difficult (the FTC’s Do  
Not Call list is a fairly simple opt out) to the challenging (the  
National Advertising Initiative opt out can be tricky). Our hope is  
that this list will clarify which opt out does what, and how to go  
about opting out.

In this list, some opt outs can be done by phone, some have to be sent  
in a letter via postal mail, and some can be accomplished online. Some  
opt outs last forever, some have time limits, and others can be  
changed at will. If an opt out is on this list, it is because we  
thought it might be important enough to be worth whatever annoyance it  
may pose.

Not every opt out is right for everyone, and not everyone will  
necessarily want to opt out. It is a personal choice. Take a look at  
the list below, and see if any of the opt outs appeal to you, or might  
make a difference to you in some way. And if you know of an opt out  
that has been important to you that we didn’t include here, please  
send us your personal “top opt outs.” We’ll consider them for the next  
revision of this list.

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http://www.worldprivacyforum.org/toptenoptout.html