This New California Law Might Change How You Browse The Internet

A new California law that changes how browser data is handled could wind up being the standard for the rest of the country, if experts are to be believed. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 566 – also called the California Opt Me Out Act — into law in October 2025, requiring companies that develop web browsers offer what's called an "opt-out signal." This function would allow users to disable the sharing and selling of their personal information, right from within the browser, as they navigate the web.

As trivial as it may seem to add a privacy toggle to browsers, Emory Roane, associate director of policy at Privacy Rights Clearinghouse — an organization that supported the bill — expects it to effect the rest of the country eventually. It will probably be easier to implement on a wide scale, rather than just for individual residents in California. It's designed to automate the opt-out process so you don't have to do it for every individual website you visit.

Mozilla already offers something like this in Firefox's user settings, so it's not necessarily a brand-new function. Although, Google's new desktop web search app is technically not a browser, but can still access web search, it will be interesting to see how user data is handled there.

Web browsers will have new privacy options for Californians when the law takes effect in January 2027, making it a lot easier to restrict or control what's happening with their data. When enabled, the setting will automatically inform websites you visit with your pre-selected privacy preferences. The California Privacy Protection Agency says this will allow users to "protect their data — like their browsing history, location data, purchase history, and personal interests — across the entire internet with a single step." It remains to be seen how streamlined these functions will be across browsers, as the big companies involved have little time before the controls need to be implemented.

Again, the reason why it's likely going to be made available to everyone is because it would be difficult to develop these browser-based controls and offer them to a single state. It's possible for these features to roll out nationally or even on a larger scale. This comes at a critical time when some of the companies involved are walking back support.

Google's Privacy Sandbox is officially dead, which removes some of the control you had over ads shown in Chrome. Apple is dealing with some privacy concerns that its AI analyzes personal photos without an opt-in. No, the Apple stuff isn't browser-related, but it highlights how privacy opportunities are waning and why controls like this opt-out signal are important.