Opt-Out Requests

When a consumer submits a Request to Opt-Out, Polaris performs several actions on your organization's behalf. This document provides a high-level summary of those actions.

Submitting an Opt-Out Request

A consumer can submit a Request to Opt-Out in one of two ways: (1) manually from the Privacy Center, or (2) automatically via a Global Privacy Control signal.

Manually from the Privacy Center

When a user visits your Your Privacy Choices page and clicks the "Submit Opt-Out Request" button, our opt-out tool will opt them out of certain third-party tracking on your site. To do that, our opt-out tool:

1. Adds the U.S. Privacy string setting to the visitor's browser and all third parties that respect that signal will stop tracking the user, at least while they're using that device and browser. We save that setting in a cookie.
2. Incorporates custom Do Not Track solutions for Facebook Ads (which does not respect the U.S. Privacy String) and for Google Analytics (which requires a separate signal to turn off tracking). What that means is that when a website visitor submits an opt-out request, our opt-out tool makes a real-time request to the supported services, like Google Analytics, to turn activity tracking off for that specific consumer.

Automatically via Global Privacy Control

Global Privacy Control is a globally recognized standard for consumers to automatically convey their data collection preferences. Under specific state privacy laws, covered businesses must honor user-enabled global privacy control signals, like the GPC, as a valid consumer request to stop the sale of personal information. When the GPC signal is detected by Polaris, our opt-out tool will treat it as a valid Request to Opt-Out and automatically perform the same sequence of actions as if the consumer manually submitted the request as outlined above. 

Request Processing

If your organization does not manually "Sell" or "Share" personal information, our opt-out tool will first create a request, perform the actions outlined above, and then automatically close the request. You will not need to perform any manual actions. 

If your organization manually "Sells" or "Shares" personal information, our opt-out tool will first create a request, perform the actions outlined above, but leave the request in the Open state so your team can follow Polaris' guidance to complete the manual steps. You will receive a "New Request" notification email.

Record-keeping Requirements

All Requests to Opt-Out, regardless of submission method, will be assigned a Request ID and will be logged in Polaris to satisfy record-keeping requirements.