This free privacy tool makes it super easy to see which sites are selling your data

The Global Privacy Control (GPC) initiative, which began in 2020, offers a suite of free tools designed to automatically enforce your digital privacy rights. The core idea is simple: instead of manually hunting for an 'opt-out' link on every website you visit—a link companies are required to provide but often hide—you can use a GPC-compliant browser or extension. This tool automatically sends a 'do not sell or share' signal to every website you visit that recognizes the GPC standard. Currently, this feature is built into privacy-focused browsers like Brave and DuckDuckGo, and is available via extensions like OptMeowt for Firefox and Chrome.

In practice, once installed, the tool actively monitors your browsing. It checks if the site you're on is compliant with privacy regulations and, if it is, automatically opts you out of data sales. Early testing by ZDNET found that nearly every site visited was sending signals to third-party domains, indicating active data collection. While some tools, like the OptMeowt extension, have raised minor security flags for requiring broad permissions, they are featured in official stores. The movement empowers users under laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), turning a manual, site-by-site chore into a seamless, background process for reclaiming control over personal information.