Neutronian Releases Q2 Data Privacy Scores, Highlights Massive Gaps in Opt Out Practices Among Publishers and Adds New Health Focused Category
Despite growing privacy regulation and calls for national standards, most companies still do not offer consumers a way to easily opt out of data collection, with less than half of Health related companies offering a clear opt-out opportunity.
Neutronian announced today the release of their Q2 Data Privacy Scores (DPS). Building on the initial Q1 release, the latest reports reflect multiple enhancements including a deep dive into opt out practices, new companies added to the ratings list and an additional category focused specifically on companies that collect sensitive health related data or provide health related information.
Given the sensitivity around health data collection in a post-Dobbs world and concerns around data usage as stories like the BetterHelp lawsuit come to light, it is now more important than ever that companies collecting and using health related data are taking the proper steps to ensure data privacy protection. An initial look at the Data Privacy Scores for the Health category shows a wide range of results across health data providers, health focused publishers and companies providing health related care or products, with less than 50% of health related companies rated having a clear opt-out on their sites.
When reviewing current opt out practices for this release, Neutronian found that only 33% of all 3,250 rated companies scored have a clear mention of the ability for consumers to opt out of data collection. Neutronian further found that the majority of those that have an opt-out include the link buried deep within a lengthy privacy policy.
Despite claims of ‘privacy first’ among many marketing tech companies, among all categories of companies rated by Neutronian, it is media publishers that were found to be the least likely to offer opt out details – calling into question the claim of high quality, privacy compliant publisher first party data used by many programmatic platforms.
Data providers also do not fare well, perhaps the result of an established tactic in this ecosystem to pass off the responsibility to those “upstream” in the data collection process. Retailers on the other hand were most likely to provide the ability to opt out, likely the result of the shopper loyalty programs they have established and the purchase data that they collect.
Beyond just mentioning the ability to opt out, Neutronian also reviewed how easy it is to understand and complete the opt out process. Neutronian auditors found that many companies are currently limiting the ability to opt out to only consumers that live in areas covered by existing privacy regulations (EU, California and in some cases also VA and NV). They also discovered that some companies request additional personal details/PII from the consumer in order to opt out (ex. street address, phone number, social security number, etc.), going against the standard of data minimization called out in “Privacy by Design” standards.
While the concept of offering the ability to opt out of data collection is meant to increase trust and transparency with consumers, making it confusing and complex to work through can actually have the opposite effect. The latest Neutronian DPS Reports highlight the opportunity that currently exists to make improvements in this area in addition to calling attention to data privacy practices overall.
The Neutronian Data Privacy Scores provide verification and ranking of companies and domains based on an assessment of data privacy. The scores are generated based on a review of the publicly available data about each entity. Examples of the types of data reviewed include a company’s Privacy Policy, privacy regulation (ex. GDPR/CCPA) disclosures, opt-out and DSAR processes, sensitive information disclosures, and company background details.
To learn more about the Neutronian Data Privacy Scores, register to view the reports or request your own scores, visit https://neutronian.com/ratings/data-privacy-scores/
About Neutronian
Neutronian is a SaaS company providing the industry’s most comprehensive approach to data privacy and quality verification. Using a standard evaluation framework, Neutronian produces independent data privacy “credit scores” and in-depth data quality certification. These solutions provide marketers with the transparency they need to confirm that their data and inventory partners are privacy compliant and ensure that their campaigns are running in privacy safe environments. High quality, privacy compliant data providers that work with Neutronian to improve their data privacy scores or achieve certification can be rewarded via faster sales cycles and increased customer trust. For more information, please visit neutronian.com.