Don't cancel your VPNs yet, but California might have just changed the internet for good

Whenever I read the news to see what’s going on in the world of cybersecurity and internet privacy, I find out loads of heinously depressing stuff. It genuinely feels like it’s only a matter of time before I write about Google launching a subscription service so that you can pay to avoid it extracting your soul through your smartphone. Today, though, I have some good news for you – even if I’m not going to encourage anyone to cancel their VPN subscriptions just yet.

So, what’s up? Well, believe it or not, the good news actually comes from America for once. The new Delete Act has just taken effect in California, and it puts ownership of private data back into the hands of the people. Specifically, citizens can opt out of having their data accumulated anywhere online and insist that all existing data be deleted. You don’t need to individually opt out hundreds of times; you do it all in one place for everything. That’s amazing.

One of the selling points of the best VPNs is that they make it harder for corporations to accumulate data on you. A law like this is kind of unprecedented and a really positive thing to see – especially coming from America, which has just started denying visas based on people’s online activity.

Ideally, this is something that we’d see rolled out globally. As much as I recommend VPNs to people, I’d much rather live in a world where they aren’t necessary, and this change brings us one step closer to that. However, even in California, I don’t think anybody should be canceling their subscriptions just yet.

While keeping your data private is a big reason to use a VPN, there are other reasons, too. For instance, your internet service provider might be giving you slower download speeds because you’re using a lot of bandwidth, or you might find yourself wanting to access your native streaming library while traveling abroad.

Also, perhaps the state of the world has just made me a little cynical, but there are a couple of scenarios that would undermine this development. It’s easy to imagine a future where a new governor walks things back, for starters, and I could see some big businesses continuing to sneakily hold onto or accumulate user data regardless.

Hopefully I’m wrong, though, and this is a new age of privacy for California. Then maybe other states (and countries) will follow the lead. Either way, if you’re thinking of getting a VPN, I recommend our partner, NordVPN. With a 30-day money-back guarantee, you have plenty of time to try it out before you’re locked in.