1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to support legislation that would establish a centralized data deletion platform in Arizona, modeled after California's DROP law that took effect on January 1. This law addresses a critical privacy gap that affects millions of Arizonans whose personal information is being collected, packaged, and sold without meaningful recourse. Over 500 data broker companies actively collect extensive personal information from automakers, tech companies, restaurants, and device makers. This includes financial data, purchases, family situations, eating habits, exercise patterns, travel, and entertainment habits. These brokers then sell this information to marketers, private investigators, and other parties. Arizona residents currently have no streamlined way to protect themselves from this invasive practice. California's previous approach required residents to file separate deletion requests with each individual broker. The California Privacy Protection Agency found that only 1% of residents exercised these rights in the first 12 months because the process was too burdensome. The new DROP platform solves this problem by allowing residents to submit a single deletion request that the state agency forwards to all registered brokers. Brokers then have 45 days to report the status of each deletion request and must delete all associated data unless specific legal exemptions apply. This streamlined approach makes privacy protection practical rather than theoretical. The platform takes approximately 15 minutes to use and provides residents with meaningful control over their personal information. Given the frequency of database hacks and the ready availability of personal data for sale online, Arizona residents need similar protections. I ask that you introduce or support legislation establishing a centralized data deletion platform in Arizona. This would give your constituents the same practical privacy protections that Californians now enjoy while holding data brokers accountable for their collection and sale of personal information.