Samsung Pay Lets Users Block Sale of Personal Data

Samsung is finally giving Samsung Pay users the opportunity to prevent the sale of their personal data. The decision seems to be a response to the incoming California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which seeks to give California residents more control over their personal information while making the data collection process more transparent.

To that end, the CCPA offers California residents some oversight over the use and sale of their personal information, giving them the explicit right to stop companies like Samsung from selling that information. The CCPA also dictates that residents should have access to their data, and need to be able to delete it if they so desire.

In the case of Samsung Pay, users are now being treated to a new pop-up that advices them to review their privacy settings and directs them to the app’s Privacy Controls. From there, users can enable the “Do Not Sell” switch, which will bar Samsung from selling their information to other Samsung Pay partners in the future.

Though the CCPA only covers residents in California, Samsung seems to have introduced the new privacy settings everywhere in the United States. That could simply speak to a desire to maintain a uniform privacy policy, though it would also make sense if Samsung anticipates that other states (or the Federal government) will adopt similar legislation in the future. 

Either way, the decision indicates that legislation like the CCPA is starting to have an impact, and that major companies are changing their corporate practices in an effort to stay ahead of the more stringent regulations. The CCPA went into effect on January 1, and while it would seem to limit the utility of the data gathered through an app like Samsung Pay, identity specialists like ImageWare are expecting to see a boost as companies are forced to adopt more rigorous security standards. 

Samsung Pay recently became compatible with the Curve card consolidation platform.

Source: XDA Developers