I always liked the archaic form, "You are hereby requested and required to [insert naval orders here]." It's asking very politely, for now, but also making it clear that declining will result in jail or worse.

I don't know if it's apocryphal, but it shows up in the Hornblower novels and at least one episode of Star Trek.

The penalty for not honoring a DROP “request” is more severe than perjury (and, conversely, there is no penalty at all for not honoring a DMCA notice, the only effect is that you do not benefit from the DMCA safe harbor if you would have been liable for copyright violation without it.)

You are being distracted from the substance by non-substantial surface features.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/request

https://munley.com/tag/request/

I’m not a US lawyer, but the word ”request” seems like it has a solid legal basis and can be used to compel action.

You’re free to label it as a demand, but unless you run a courtroom and swear them in, any failure to do so will not be perjury.

Well, I don't think any of these things are legally required, so call it whatever you want.

here-here

I noticed this too. It's a number I've had for years and have barely given out to anyone. Registered for a DUNS number last month and have been getting all sorts of spam calls from all different area codes. I assumed it was due to the DUNS form.

I noticed D&B have recently had FTC violations/settlements but not sure they touch this specific situation, but I'm honestly curious if there's anything we can do about this.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/09/...

Out of curiosity, did you do this as part of Android's awful app submission process

I don’t know if this is worth the cost to you but I’ve found that the cheapest $5 Tello plan as a second line is great for business use like this.

My number used to belong to an elderly woman, so I keep getting spam texts intended for her. I block the numbers, but they somehow keep sending me spam messages from different ones.

I don't think there is any solution other than changing my phone number at this point. The issue is fucking sites keep using phone number as 2fa.

Yes; the nexus for legal purposes is generally the location of the user, not the broker

The company would have to not have any interstate presence at all. If you are a business based in the united states that has customers in California, you are easily reachable under California law.

Yes. We talk to our lawyers here in FL. We take the legal document from CA and throw them in the garbage while laughing is the current policy.

Well the CPPA (state regulator) just hit General Motors with a $12.75M fine for selling data to two registered data brokers, and made the brokers who received the data delete it all: https://ccpa.world/enforcement/gm-onstar-smart-driver

Does it apply to Google? Well that's an interesting question. I think the answer is yes but the practical matter is that the CPPA is going to get some legal precedent and some more lawyers on staff before they take on Google. At the current number of requests in the DROP platform they could determine Google is an unregistered data broker and fine them $25B+, but I don't think they are going to do that this year.

I think within 36 months they will take the legal victories from prosecuting the first set of unregistered data brokers and apply it to the real players in the data ecosystem. At least, that's what I would do if I were Michael Macko.

Fast workers make $20 an hour in Cali, except for panera bread workers OBVIOUSLY.

mom should look up little bobby tables

If it's a VW, pick up a Ross-Tech VAG-COM + VCDS, locate your Telematics unit (OCU, online communications unit) and remove it; mine was behind the instrument cluster. Then use VCDS on a laptop plugged into your car with VAG-COM, and code out the OCU from every module giving fault codes for its absence. You will probably lose the microphone, as in my Mk7 the microphone line goes through the OCU. Finally, optionally, you can code out your infotainment module's bluetooth features thus taking away another avenue for passive surveillance.

Do you think you could be an unregistered data broker? You should probably reach out to me directly so I can give you more targeted advice.

All of the requests are SHA-256 hashvalues, they aren't transmitting any usable information in the process of sending the deletion requests.

Only if HN counts as a "data broker" under the corresponding law [0]. It states:

> “Data broker” means a business that knowingly collects and sells to third parties the personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not have a direct relationship. “Data broker” does not include any of the following:

> An entity to the extent that it is covered by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681 et seq.).

> An entity to the extent that it is covered by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Public Law 106-102) and implementing regulations.

> An entity to the extent that it is covered by the Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act (Article 6.6 (commencing with Section 791) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Insurance Code).

> An entity, or a business associate of a covered entity, to the extent their processing of personal information is exempt under Section 1798.146. For purposes of this paragraph, “business associate” and “covered entity” have the same meanings as defined in Section 1798.146 [1].

I don't think HN counts as a "data broker" under this definition since they state that they "do not collect any Personal Information unless you choose to provide your email address and/or information in the "about" field" for HN accounts and "do not sell or share your Personal Information (as those terms are defined under the CCPA)."

[0]: https://cppa.ca.gov/regulations/pdf/data_broker_reg_delete_a...

[1]: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio....

Does this mean people can delete comments from HN?

This is already a thing. One can reach out to dang to request their account or their comments be removed. They do not like to remove comments as it breaks some of the interaction and context people had on the site but they will not refuse to do it. hn@ycombinator.com

Probably not. Under TITLE 1.81.48:

“Data broker” does not include any of the following:

(1) An entity to the extent that it is covered by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681 et seq.).

(2) An entity to the extent that it is covered by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Public Law 106-102) and implementing regulations.

(3) An entity to the extent that it is covered by the Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act (Article 6.6 (commencing with Section 791) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Insurance Code).

(4) An entity, or a business associate of a covered entity, to the extent their processing of personal information is exempt under Section 1798.146. For purposes of this paragraph, “business associate” and “covered entity” have the same meanings as defined in Section 1798.146.

<https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.x...>

Credit bureaus are, I think, covered as item (1).

I hope this is true! Consumer credit is a serious problem. How much better would it be if only corporate entities could take on debt? That goes for school, home, and car loans too. Imagine the return to sanity in pricing when Big Finance can no longer scam time-preferenced and desperate buyers! Society might have a real savings rate again!

I don't think Discord counts as a data broker under the act as it does not apply to entities with whom you have a "direct relationship"

Google TV surfaces this under settings (along with the ability to regenerate it, or remove it)

EDIT: Android also surfaces this information more generally, I just found it under More Privacy Settings -> Ads

Because someone commenting leads to others spending time and effort responding. Deleting the comment breaks the chain. Don't comment if you feel that it's something you might want to delete. Think of commenting as like sending an email, but you get a short window to delete in this place.

This comment [0] from dang might be relevant:

> In case it's of interest, here's the standard language from emails I send people:

> We try not to delete posts that got replies, because doing so would be unfair to the other commenters in the thread. What I've done so far is reassign it to a random user ID, so it's as if you'd used a throwaway account to post it and there's no link to your main account. Does that work?

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40734348