Mozilla Monitor Plus: automatically remove your personal info from data brokers
Mozilla’s new Monitor Plus service, which automatically submits opt‑out requests to U.S. data broker sites, is welcomed by many who lack time to contact hundreds of brokers manually but raises hard questions about effectiveness, trust, and cost. Commenters compare it with rivals like Optery, OneRep, DeleteMe, Kanary and free tools such as Have I Been Pwned and Consumer Reports’ Permission Slip, weighing coverage, verification of removals, recurring subscription value, and conflicts of interest when brokers are also affiliates. Others highlight structural concerns: services must collect and relay sensitive data to the very brokers they’re trying to suppress, protections are largely U.S.-only and patchwork without GDPR‑style law, and recurring fees to clean up data feel like paying to mitigate an abusive business model.
Effectiveness and Limitations
- Users like the idea of automated opt-outs but question how to verify real deletion vs. simply hiding data.
- Some note that brokers may re-add data later from upstream sources; long-term effectiveness is uncertain.
- Suggested approach: spot-check listed brokers and rely on periodic removal reports or screenshots where offered.
- False positives and stale results are reported; some entries are already removed by other services or never existed.
Geographic Scope and Legal Context
- Service is currently US-only, causing confusion and frustration for non-US users who can still access the signup flow.
- Commenters point out that expanding globally is non-trivial due to broker-specific and country-specific rules.
- EU users highlight that GDPR already constrains some broker behavior, though data brokers remain a problem.
- No US federal law exists; removals lean on a patchwork of state privacy laws and voluntary broker processes.
Comparisons to Alternatives
- Multiple competitors discussed: Optery, OneRep, DeleteMe, Kanary, Incogni, bank-branded services, and Consumer Reports’ Permission Slip.
- Differences highlighted in: number and type of brokers covered, reporting quality, reliance on partners, geographic coverage, pricing, and family plans.
- DIY options exist (e.g., broker opt-out lists, “disappear” guides), but are time-consuming.
Trust, Privacy, and Conflicts of Interest
- Some are comfortable trusting Mozilla more than lesser-known firms; others dislike creating yet another account or centralizing PII.
- Concern that any removal service must send personal data to brokers, potentially enriching them, and that this is explicitly acknowledged by some providers.
- There is skepticism about a partner that allegedly has affiliate relationships with data brokers, viewed as a conflict of interest by some.
- A few worry these services could act as “data validation” for brokers or be high-value targets for breaches.
Pricing and Business Model
- Monitor Plus costs around ~$14/month; some find this high, others say it’s trivial in the US context.
- Debate over subscription vs. one-off cleanups: value in ongoing monitoring vs. perception of a “protection racket.”
- Ethical concern that people must pay to mitigate harms caused by data brokers rather than laws preventing the practice.