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Take Action Now to Enhance Your Privacy Rights

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Ann Baddour and Briana Gordley

So much of what we do on our mobile phones, online, and through apps is being tracked, captured, and even packaged and sold. These data collection practices can be invasive, compromise personal privacy, and enable scammers.

In promising news, Texans were afforded new rights on July 1, 2024, to control their personal data through the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, which covers most businesses that collect our personal information. Under this new law, Texans are able to see what data certain businesses collect about them, correct anything that is wrong, ask businesses to delete their data, and opt out of the collection and sale of their data.

The new law is a step forward, but there is room for improvement. Between now and October 31, you have an opportunity to take action to help improve the law. Lawmakers are asking for feedback on the law, including how to strengthen protections and make them easier to access. We urge you to take advantage of the new law and share your experiences at: hb4publicportal.texas.gov. Keep reading to learn more about your rights and how to access them.

The new Texas law grants five key rights:

  • Right to Access: You can request a copy of the personal information covered businesses have collected about you.
  • Right to Data Portability: You can request a copy of your personal information from a business that can be transferred to another business in an readily usable format. For example, this feature allows you to export your contact list from one email platform and import them into another email platform.
  • Right to Correct: You can request that a business correct inaccuracies in the personal information it has collected about you.
  • Right to Delete: You can request that a business delete the personal information it has collected about you.
  • Right to Opt Out: You can opt out of businesses selling your personal information to advertisers and other third parties.

You can learn how to access these rights by going to the privacy policy of the business, app, or website of your choice, and searching for words like “opt,” “privacy,” “control,” or “rights,” to find the section of the policy that gives instructions on how to access your rights.

Things to look for as you try to access your privacy rights:

  • How easy or difficult was the process?
  • Did the business comply with your request?
  • Do you wish you could go to one place to enforce your rights instead of so many different places?
  • Are there particular types of businesses that collect your data that are most concerning to you? For example, data brokers collect and sell our data, often without clear limits on what they can collect and who they sell to. Learn more about data brokers here.

Check out this short video for more information on the new law and how to access your rights.


Technology is getting more powerful by the day, with sophisticated artificial intelligence models and other technologies that often rely on our data as the engine driving them. We hope you will access your rights now and give Texas lawmakers your feedback at: hb4publicportal.texas.gov. Your action today can benefit the privacy of Texans for generations to come.

Blog Updated: September 20, 2024

This blog post was updated to reflect that the deadline for comments has been extended to October 31, from the original date of September 30.