Opt out of all the data sharing you wouldn't opt in to.





Welcome

Simple Opt Out is drawing attention to opt-out data sharing and marketing practices that many people aren't aware of (and most people don't want), then making it easier to opt out. For example:

Chase may share your "account balances and transaction history … For nonaffiliates to market to you."

may share your "account balances and transaction history … For nonaffiliates to market to you." Crate & Barrel may share "your customer information [name, postal address and email address, and transactions you conduct on our Website or offline] with other select companies."

may share "your customer information [name, postal address and email address, and transactions you conduct on our Website or offline] with other select companies." InterContinental Hotels may share "your information with third parties … to extend special offers about their own products and services"

This site makes it easier to opt out of data sharing by 50+ companies (or request a company or see opt-out tips). Enjoy!





Opt-out of data sharing by…

1stdibs • 23andMe • AAA • Adobe • Ancestry.com • Amazon.com • American Express • Apple • AT&T • Bank of America • BeenVerified • Biden 2020 Campaign • CapitalOne 360 • Carnival Cruises • CB2 • CenturyLink • Chase • Choice Hotels • Comcast Xfinity • Condé Nast • Costco • CoreLogic • Crate & Barrel • Disqus • Facebook • Frontier Communications • Google • Guitar Center • HBO • Hearst • Home Depot • Hulu • Instant Checkmate • InterContinental Hotels • Kustomer • LendingClub • Lexis-Nexis • LG • LinkedIn • Marriott Hotels • Mastercard • Meredith/Time Inc. • MetLife • Microsoft • National Geographic • Nature Conservancy • Netflix • NYTimes • OptOutPrescreen.com • PayPal • PeekYou • People Search Now • PictureFrames.com • Pinterest • Reddit • Retail Equation • Riskified • Rockler • Roku • Roomba (iRobot) • Samsung • Saatchi Art • Seattle Art Museum • Seattle Times • Slashdot Media • Southwest Airlines • Spokeo • Sprint • Taunton Press • T-Mobile • TruePeopleSearch • Trump 2020 Campaign • Tuft & Needle • Twitter • United Airlines • US Postal Service • Verizon • Visa • Vizio • Wells Fargo • Whitepages.com • Wiliams-Sonoma • Woodcraft • Yahoo/Oath • Yelp • YouTube • Zeta Global





1stdibs

What? Opt-out Details User activity with sellers Opt-out Policy: "1stdibs may share your search terms, or items you have viewed, saved, or purchased with that seller"

23andMe

AAA

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells members' info with third parties Call 888-243-9815 Policy

Adobe

What? Opt-out Details Ad targeting & data collection Opt-out Policy: Your rights

What? Opt-out Details Family tree Instructions Privacy Philosophy DNA Match Instructions Research Instructions

American Express

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells cardholder info with third parties Opt-out Policy: "We may share Personal Information … with financial institutions or Co-brand Partners with whom we jointly offer or develop products and services"

Apple

What? Opt-out Details Interest- and location-based ads (iOS & TV) Opt-out Interest- and location-based ads (macOS) Opt-out

What? Opt-out Details Phone data ("CPNI") sharing Opt-out Policy: Your Choices Mobile calls, data, and ad targeting Opt-out DirecTV Opt-out and in set-top box settings

Bank of America

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info & transactions with third parties Opt-out (or call 888-341-5000) How your data is shared

BeenVerified

What? Opt-out Details Reverse lookup entry Opt-out Policy

Biden 2020 Campaign

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells donor info with third parties Email copyrightcomplaints@joebiden.com Policy: "We may share information about you … With candidates, organizations, campaigns, groups or causes that we believe have similar political viewpoints, principles or objectives or share similar goals"

CapitalOne 360

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info & transactions with third parties Call 888-817-2970 How your data is shared

Carnival Cruises

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info with third parties Email dpo@carnival.com (or call 1-888-CARNIVAL), or delete personal data Policy: "We may share information … With select third parties, so that they can provide you with information and marketing messages"

CB2

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info & purchase history with third parties Opt-out Policy: "We share your customer information with other select companies whose products and services you may find useful. This information includes your name, postal address and email address, as well as a record of any transactions you conduct on our Website or offline" Postal ads Opt-out

Also see Crate & Barrel.

CenturyLink

What? Opt-out Details Data sharing and marketing Opt-out Policy: Choices

Chase

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info & transactions with third parties Opt-out or call 1–888–868–8618 How your data is shared: "we collect and share … account balances and transaction history … For nonaffiliates to market to you"

Choice Hotels

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells guest info with third parties Opt-out or email privacy@choicehotels.com Policy: "Choice may partner with other companies to provide co-sponsored or co-branded promotions, sweepstakes, contests, products and services and may share your information with these companies."

Comcast Xfinity

What? Opt-out Details Targeted cable ads, sales mailings, more Opt-out Policy: Your choices Postal mail ads Call 1-800-COMCAST and ask to be added to "Do Not Mail" list Policy: Web site

Condé Nast

Magazines: Allure, Architectural Digest, Ars Technica, Backchannel, Bon Appétit, Brides, Condé Nast Traveler, Epicurious, Glamour, Golf Digest, GQ, Pitchfork, Self, Teen Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, W, Wired, and others.

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells subscriber info with third parties Email privacy_administration@condenast.com Policy. "we rent, sell, share, and transfer Personal Information to" list buyers, advertising clients, "data coops," consumer data suppliers - basically, to everyone and anyone who will pay for it

Costco

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells members' info with third parties Opt-out via costco.com support chat, membership counter, 1-800-774-2678, or opt-out checkbox on renewal form Policy: "We may share information about you with companies that offer their products and services for our and their marketing purposes"

CoreLogic

What? Opt-out Details Teletrack pre-approved offers Call 1-877-309-5226 or Opt-out Instructions. Phone opt-out lasts 5 years; postal mail opt-out is permanent.

Crate & Barrel

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info & purchase history with third parties Opt-out Policy: "We share your customer information with other select companies whose products and services you may find useful. This information includes your name, postal address and email address, as well as a record of any transactions you conduct on our Websites or offline" Postal ads Opt-out

Also see CB2.

Disqus

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells user info with third parties Email privacy@disqus.com Policy: "we share certain categories of personal data with third parties for their direct marketing purposes"

Also see Zeta Global.

Facebook

Includes: Instagram

Frontier Communications

What? Opt-out Details Phone data ("CPNI") sharing Opt-out Policy

Google

Includes visitors who are not logged in to a Google account.

What? Opt-out Details Search history & ad personalization Opt-out If you browse Google without logging in, do this while not logged in. Most services Opt-out Includes Gmail, Google Apps, & location data. Policy: Choices. Interest- and location-based ads (Android) Opt-out

Also see YouTube.

Guitar Center

Includes: MusiciansFriend.com

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer postal addresses with third parties Call 866-498-7882 (Guitar Center) or 1-800-449-9128 (Musician's Friend) Policy: "may occasionally share its postal mailing list … with other organizations"

HBO

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info with third parties Email WMPrivacy@warnermediagroup.com with name, email/username, and postal address Policy: "We may also share Information with business partners and third parties … that may want to market products or services to you"

Hearst

Magazines: Car and Driver, Cosmopolitan, Country Living, Dr. Oz, Elle, Esquire, Food Network Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, HGTV Magazine, House Beautiful, Marie Claire, O, The Oprah Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Redbook, Road & Track, Seventeen, Town&Country, Veranda, Prevention, Men's Health, Woman's Day, Women's Health, and others.

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells subscriber info with third parties Opt-out via postal mail only Includes this distinctly terrible opt-out process: "We may provide your contact information to third parties for their own marketing purposes. To request that third parties do not use your postal mailing contact information for their own marketing purposes (if we have your postal address), you may notify us in writing at [postal address]…"

Home Depot

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info & purchase history with third parties Opt-out Policy: "We share information with [financial product] third parties so that they can provide you with tailored information about products and services and special offers" and "we may share information with joint marketing partners"

Hulu

What? Opt-out Details Ad targeting Opt-out Policy

Instant Checkmate

What? Opt-out Details Reverse lookup entry Opt-out

InterContinental Hotels

Includes: Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Kimpton, others

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells guest info with third parties In Rewards Club portal, email privacyoffice@ihg.com, or contact Policy: "We may also share your information with third parties … to extend special offers about their own products and services"

Kustomer

What? Opt-out Details Aggregates information from retailers about customers To obtain or request deletion of your data, email privacy@kustomer.com Policy

Related: How retailers score customers

LendingClub

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info with third parties Email privacy@lendingclub.com or call 1-888-596-3157 Policy. Includes SSN, income, account balances, transaction history, credit scores, and employment information

What? Opt-out Details Reverse lookup entry Opt-out Docs. Excludes this database. Direct marketing services Opt-out Docs Credit offers ("Risk Solutions") Opt-out Docs

LG

What? Opt-out Details TV Don't agree to terms or policy on product UI, or don't buy product; California: Opt-out or email CAPrivacy@lge.com Policy, Policy

More information: LG Will Take The 'Smart' Out Of Your Smart TV If You Don't Agree To Share…, How to Turn Off Smart TV Snooping Features, and How to Stop Your Smart TV From Tracking What You Watch.

LinkedIn

Also see Microsoft.

Marriott Hotels

Includes: Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, Le Meridien, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Ritz-Carlton, Sheraton, SpringHill Suites, St. Regis, W Hotels, Westin, others

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells guest info to third parties Opt-out; California residents) Policy: "We disclose Personal Data and Other Data with select Strategic Business Partners who provide goods, services and offers … that we believe will be of interest to you."

Mastercard

What? Opt-out Details Aggregated consumer spending reports Opt-out Policy

Magazines: Allrecipes, American Baby, American Patchwork, Better Homes and Gardens, Country Life, Diabetic Living, EatingWell, Entertainment Weekly, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Family Circle, FamilyFun, Fitness, Food & Wine, InStyle, Living the Country Life, Midwest Living, Money, Parents, People, Practical Boat Owner, Real Simple, Shape, Siempre Mujer, Southern Living, Sports Illustrated, Successful Farming, and others.

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells subscriber info with third parties Complete both opt-out and opt-out Policy: "Some of our Brands share your personal information with third parties who we allow to use that information for their own commercial purposes."

MetLife

What? Opt-out Details Shares customer info Opt-out Policy

Microsoft

Includes visitors who are not logged in to a Microsoft account.

What? Opt-out Details Ads, browsing data, and services Opt-out Sites covers Xbox, Skype, Office, Bing. For logged-out users, go here. Policy.

MindBodyOnline

What? Opt-out Details Shares user data with third parties Email privacy@mindbodyonline.com Policy: "We may disclose your Personal Information … To third parties to permit them (or their own customers) to send you marketing communications, consistent with your choices. "

National Geographic

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells user data with third parties (NGP) Opt-out Policy: "National Geographic Partners will disclose your personal information … with our business partners, such as travel operators." Shares/sells user data with third parties (NGS) Email dataprivacy@ngs.org Policy: "Your information may be shared with selected third parties so that they may send you promotional materials about goods and services that they offer."

Nature Conservancy

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells donor data with third parties Email member@tnc.org or call 1-800-628-6860 Policy: "for the purpose of renting or exchanging with unaffiliated third party organizations for their own uses"

Netflix

What? Opt-out Details Disable "Matched Identifier Communications" Opt-out Also see Account. Policy.

NYTimes

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells print subscriber info with third parties Email privacy@nytimes.com with account and phone number Policy: "If you’re a U.S. print subscriber, we may share your name and mailing address (among other information) with other reputable companies…".

Unsolicited credit offers from: Equifax, Experian, Innovis, TransUnion

What? Opt-out Details Unsolicited credit offers Opt-out Industry organization. 5 year or permanent opt-out.

PayPal

What? Opt-out Details Data sharing with third parties Cannot opt out Policy (in "Consumer Privacy Notice"): Data is shared "For joint marketing with other financial companies" and/or "For our affiliates’ everyday business purposes"

PeekYou

What? Opt-out Details Reverse lookup entry Opt-out

People Search Now

What? Opt-out Details Reverse lookup entry Opt-out

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info & purchase history with third parties Call 1-800-332-8884 Policy: Your information, including "information about your order(s)," "may also be shared with other marketers to bring you offers of interest"

Pinterest

What? Opt-out Details Personalization Opt-out Based on purchases and cross-site requests (part of Profile). Policy:

Prosper

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info with third parties Account settings -> “Communication Preferences" -> disable "Optional Information Sharing" or email privacy@prosper.com Policy ("Federal Privacy Notice"). Includes SSN, income, account balances, transaction history, credit scores, and employment information

Reddit

What? Opt-out Details Ad personalization Opt-out Policy

Retail Equation

What? Opt-out Details Aggregates information from retailers about returned products To obtain or request deletion of your data, email returnactivityreport@theretailequation.com Policy

Related: How retailers score customers

Riskified

What? Opt-out Details Aggregates customer information from retailers To obtain or request deletion of your data, email support@riskified.com Policy

Related: How retailers score customers

Rockler

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info with third parties Email orders@rockler.com with your postal address Policy: "Occasionally, we make a portion of our mailing list available to respectable organizations that may interest our customers"

Roku

What? Opt-out Details Analysis of what you're watching, ad targeting based on what you watched, and sharing de-identified viewing history Opt-out in device (Settings > Privacy menu) Policy

More information: How to Turn Off Smart TV Snooping Features and How to Stop Your Smart TV From Tracking What You Watch.

Roomba (iRobot)

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info with third parties None; don't buy the product Policy: "We may share your personal information… with selected third parties who we think may offer you products or services you may enjoy"

"You may contact us at global.irobot.com to request your personal information be deleted from our systems", but no ongoing opt-out is available.

Samsung

What? Opt-out Details TV: Analysis of what you're watching, ad targeting based on what you watched, and sharing de-identified viewing history Menu > Support > Terms & Policy or Menu > Smart Hub > Terms & Policy, and submit California Do Not Sell, access, and deletion requests Policy (excerpted below) Phones & TVs: Activity tracking & ad personalization See Policy Policy

Televisions: "the IBA Service will collect information about your TV viewing history (including information about the networks, channels, websites visited and programs viewed on your Samsung Smart TV and the amount of time spent viewing them) and Samsung Smart TV usage information (such as how long and often you use the apps on your Smart TV). We may use automatic content recognition (ACR) and other technologies to capture your TV viewing history. We also may obtain other behavioral and demographic data from trusted third-party data sources." "We may share your personal information with … business partners" - Policy (which contains multiple policies concatenated into one page - scroll to "Smart TV Supplement").

"You may, at any time, disable the Customization Service via the "Customization Service" option in the Settings menu of your Samsung Account" (or app/device), as well as account.samsung.com

Basically, read every setting or menu choice on any Samsung device you own. Policy is distinctly less customer-friendly than its peer companies. If it can be retained and shared, it probably is.

More information: How to Turn Off Smart TV Snooping Features and How to Stop Your Smart TV From Tracking What You Watch.

Saatchi Art

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info & purchase history with third parties Email legal@leafgroup.com Policy: "we may disclose… name, mailing address [and purchase history] to marketing companies for trade or rental purposes"

Seattle Art Museum

What? Opt-out Details Shares/trades customer info with third parties Email membership@seattleartmuseum.org Policy: "we occasionally trade our membership mailing list with sister arts organizations"

Seattle Times

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info with third parties Email webmaster@seattletimes.com Policy: "We may share your Personal Information with our business partners or co-marketers … [or] third parties that provide products and services that we think you may be interested in."

Sift

What? Opt-out Details Aggregates information from retailers about customers To obtain or request deletion of your data, email privacy@sift.com Policy

Related: How retailers score customers

Slashdot Media

Includes: SourceForge

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells user info with third parties Opt-out Policy: "We may also share your Personal Information with our advertisers, vendors, and customers, including data profiling companies, business-to-business lead buyers, and data aggregation companies"

Southwest Airlines

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells passenger information with third parties Opt-out Policy: "We may also share information about you … With our business partners, affiliates and other third parties for purposes of sending their own marketing."

Spokeo

What? Opt-out Details Reverse lookup entry Opt-out

Sprint

What? Opt-out Details Ad targeting Opt-out and in phone settings Policy: Mobile Advertising supplement

Taunton Press

Magazines: Fine Woodworking, Fine Homebuilding, and others.

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells subscriber info with third parties Email privacy@taunton.com with account number, mailing address, phone Policy: "We may also rent your name, mailing address, and other information to reputable companies that provide marketing offers through direct mail"

What? Opt-out Details Marketing preferences Opt-out Policy: Choices De-identified usage data for reports Opt-out

Tuft & Needle

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info with third parties Call 1-800-216-6747 Policy: "We may share or disclose your Personal Information … With our affiliated and unaffiliated service providers who are offering products or services that we believe may be of interest to you"

TruePeopleSearch

What? Opt-out Details Reverse lookup entry Opt-out Policy

Trump 2020 Campaign

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells donor info with third parties Email privacy@donaldtrump.com Policy: "we may use information we collect for … sale or exchange of Service user information and related data to a broker, political committee, or other non-profit or for-profit entity"

Twitter

United Airlines

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells passenger information with third parties Not provided (requested 2020-01-17) Policy: "may also share your information with third parties for marketing purposes including but not limited to the third party’s own marketing or promotional purposes or other companies’ marketing purposes"

US Postal Service

What? Opt-out Details Sells change-of-address requests to third paries Can't opt-out. Request "Temporary" (6 month) forwarding to prevent disclosure Policy: Information is sold "to individuals or companies already in possession of your name and old mailing address, as an address correction service" and "to licensed service providers of the USPS to perform mailing list correction service of lists containing your name and old address."

Related: How can this be?

Verizon

What? Opt-out Details Phone data ("CPNI") sharing Wireless: Opt-out; wired and business: Call 1-866-483-9700 Policy: "We may use and share your CPNI among our affiliates and agents to offer you services that are different from the services you currently purchase from us" Data sharing for personalizing TV, mobile, and Internet ads Opt-out (scroll through entire section) Policy; also see Dashboard Credit data for marketing Call 1-844-366-2879 Policy: "Wireline customers can limit the sharing of credit information within Verizon for the marketing of new products and services"

Visa

What? Opt-out Details Aggregated consumer spending reports Opt-out Policy: "in some countries, Visa uses Card Transaction Data to generate data products that companies use to improve their marketing programs and identify interested consumers"

Vizio

More information: What Vizio was doing behind the TV screen, How to Turn Off Smart TV Snooping Features, and How to Stop Your Smart TV From Tracking What You Watch.

Wells Fargo

What? Opt-out Details Shares customer info & transactions with affiliates Opt-out (Security & Support -> Change Privacy Preferences) or call 1-888-528-8460 Policy

What? Opt-out Details Reverse lookup entry Opt-out Follow both "Removing the listing via our opt-out service" and "How to Remove your Premium Listing."

Includes Pottery Barn, West Elm, Rejuvenation

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info with third parties Email customerservice@williams-sonoma.com with name, postal address, email Policy: "we might rent, exchange, share and/or cross-reference information, including contact information about you"

Woodcraft

What? Opt-out Details Shares/sells customer info with third parties Email custserv@woodcraft.com Policy: "We occasionally make our customer list (postal mailing list only) available to carefully screened companies whose products may interest you"

Also see Verizon.

Yelp

What? Opt-out Details Shares first name and individual site activity with businesses Opt-out Policy: "We may share information from or about you (such as [city, age, and gender, businesses you bookmark or call, or if you visit a business’s URL] … with businesses on Yelp." By default, shares first name and last initial with businesses.

YouTube

Includes visitors who are not logged in to a YouTube account.

What? Opt-out Details Watch history & search history Opt-out Pause "Watch History," clear it, repeat for "Search History." If you browse YouTube without logging in, do this while not logged in.

Also see Google.

Zeta Global

What? Opt-out Details "Zeta Data Cloud" data broker Opt-out (or call 1-800-515-3793) Policy





Suggestions

Your other relationships

Think about your other…

Internet-connected devices: if your TV, thermostat, toothbrush, speakers, or other household device has an Internet connection (even through Bluetooth), it probably sends some data to someone else.

Magazine subscriptions: about half of magazines sell at least print subscriber data.

Print catalogs/postal ads. When you receive a catalog or flyer, take a picture of the mailing label and email it to the company's support address with a request to be removed from all mailings. If you haven't ordered from the company, ask how they obtained your address.

Financial services: Banks and anyone involved with your money or extending credit probably shares some data.

How to find opt-out choices quickly

For companies not listed here:

Navigate to a company's privacy policy by searching the Web for companyname privacy policy . Example: at&t privacy policy Once viewing the privacy policy, skim it for a section called "Your Choices." If you don't see a "Your Choices" link, use your browser to find within the page (Control-F/Command-F). Find for each of these 3 words: " opt " (such as "opt-out" and "optout"), " shar " (such as "sharing" and "shared"), and " disclos " (such as "disclose" and "disclosure").

Ready-made opt-out request

If you need to email a vendor, here's a request which can be copy-and-pasted:

Hello,

Please remove me from all mailing lists (electronic, postal, and otherwise). Please opt me out of all data sharing.

Please ensure I'm not contacted again except regarding an action that I initiated (such as by placing an order or opening a support ticket), and that no information about me or my use of your services is disclosed except as may be required to deliver the service.

Please reply when this is complete.

Finally, please pass this on to the company's management team or your supervisor: I expect and deserve opt-in, self-service choices about how my data is used and how I'm marketed to. I shouldn't need to opt-out, let alone by sending an email like this. I'm disappointed that the company chose to violate my privacy rather than ensuring it has my informed consent. Because the company puts its own preferences above my own (and even above simple transparency), I can't trust it. I'll be much less likely to make a future purchase. Please move to opt-in, user-facing privacy and marketing choices.

Install uBlock Origin

Install uBlock Origin for your browser. It's free, not-for-profit, and open source, and using it probably blocks as many privacy concerns as opting out of everything above.

Changes

To submit an opt-out policy for a new company, correction about an existing company, or suggest a feature, please tweet to @simpleoptout, or create a GitHub issue (or send a pull request).

This site is generally concerned with practices that:

require opting out, not opting in, and

do not inherently disclose a way to opt-out (for example, emails generally contain unsubscribe links), and

are not addressed by industry-wide opt-out like DMAchoice (for direct mail), NAI and DAA (for ad targeting)

probably affect at least 1,000 people

Related work