What is the right to erasure?
The right to erasure (GDPR, Article 17), also called the 'right to be forgotten', lets you require a company to delete the personal data it holds about you. It is free, the request can be made by a simple email, and the organisation has one month to respond. If it refuses without justification, you file a complaint with the data protection authority.
Information verified on July 22, 2026
The free lever that makes paid services like Incogni almost optional. Written into Article 17 of the GDPR, the right to erasure lets you require a company (a data broker, a website, an app) to delete the information it holds about you.
In practice: a written request is enough, often an email to the organisation’s “privacy” or “DPO” address, where you invoke Article 17 and ask for your data to be deleted. It is free. The company has one month to respond and comply. It cannot demand an elaborate justification: this is your right, not a favour.
The right is not absolute. An organisation can legitimately refuse if it has a legal obligation to keep the data (an employer, your bank, the tax authority). But a broker profiling you to resell? It has no valid reason to keep you. If it refuses or stays silent, filing a complaint with your data protection authority is free and done online.
Where it plays out: the personal data removal category compares the services that send these requests for you, and the book teaches you to limit what you will, one day, have to get erased.
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