Your Privacy Choices

California residents have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Three ways to do it. The first one takes about ten seconds.

Last Updated: May 2026

What's actually happening

We don't sell your CV. We don't sell your email. We don't sell your name. But California's CPRA defines "sharing" pretty broadly, and our use of Google AdSense to fund the free builder counts. So you have the right to opt out. This page tells you exactly how.

What Personal Information We Share

When you visit a page with ads, your browser hands a few things to Google AdSense automatically. We don't pick what gets shared, AdSense reads what every site reads. Here's what that looks like:

  • Identifiers: your IP address and ad-related cookie IDs (the ones listed on our Cookie Policy)
  • Internet activity: the URL of the page you're on, the time, your approximate location based on IP
  • Device data: browser type, screen size, operating system
  • Inferences: ad-relevance signals like "this person reads career advice" derived from the above

We never share your CV content, your name, your email, your photo, or anything you typed into the builder. AdSense can't see any of that because we don't expose it to AdSense.

What "Sale" and "Sharing" Actually Mean Here

We don't sell anything to anyone for money. Nobody is mailing us a check for your data. But California's CPRA, which amended the CCPA in 2023, defines "share" more broadly than the dictionary does. Any time personal information is disclosed to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising, that counts as sharing.

AdSense uses cookies and identifiers to serve ads that reflect your interests across the open web. Under California law, that's sharing. We're being straightforward about this because pretending otherwise would be a worse look than just telling you.

The legal basis

California Civil Code section 1798.140 defines "sell" and "share" and section 1798.135 spells out your opt-out right. The rules cover any business that handles California residents' personal info above the statutory threshold, which is where this page comes in.

How to Opt Out (Three Ways)

Method 1: Global Privacy Control (10 seconds)

Enable Global Privacy Control in your browser and we honor it automatically on every visit. No clicks, no forms, no logging in. It's the single best privacy setting you can flip today.

  • Brave: on by default
  • Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → "Tell websites not to sell or share my data"
  • DuckDuckGo browser: on by default
  • Chrome / Edge / Safari: install the Privacy Badger or DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials extension

Method 2: Email us

Send a one-line email to info@freecv.org with the subject "Opt Out of Sharing". You don't need to give us your full life story. We honor it on receipt, within 15 business days at the latest.

Method 3: Block the ad cookies directly

Visit Google's My Ad Center and turn off personalized ads. This stops the AdSense cookies from doing anything useful, which is essentially the same outcome as opting out, just one layer up.

Which method should I pick?

Use Method 1 if you want one-and-done across every site you visit. Use Method 2 if your browser doesn't support GPC and you don't feel like installing an extension. Use Method 3 if you specifically want to keep Google's ecosystem ads off, FreeCV included.

No Account Required

You don't need a FreeCV account to opt out. California law specifically forbids businesses from making people sign up just to exercise their privacy rights. The opt-out methods above all work whether you've ever used the builder or not.

If you already have an account and you're signed in, we link your opt-out to your profile so you don't have to repeat it on every device.

What Happens After You Opt Out

  • We stop sharing your personal information for advertising purposes
  • You'll still see ads on most pages, but they won't be personalized based on your behavior
  • We confirm by email within 15 business days when you've used Method 2. Methods 1 and 3 are instant and don't generate confirmations
  • We don't re-share your information for at least 12 months unless you specifically opt back in
  • Other parts of the service work exactly the same. No degraded features, no nags, no penalty for opting out

Authorized Agents

You can ask someone else to submit the opt-out on your behalf. A privacy service, a friend, a lawyer, anyone you trust. We just need a signed written authorization from you, and we may verify directly with you before we act on the request. This is required by California law to stop bad actors from opting out random people without their knowledge.

Send the authorization to info@freecv.org with subject "Authorized Agent Request".

Your Other California Rights

The opt-out above is one of several rights California gives you. The others include:

  • Right to know what personal info we collect, where it comes from, and who we share it with
  • Right to access the specific personal info we have about you
  • Right to delete your personal info, with some exceptions for legal compliance
  • Right to correct anything that's wrong
  • Right to limit our use of sensitive personal info
  • Right to non-discrimination, meaning we can't degrade your service because you exercised these rights

Full details and how to exercise each one live in the California Privacy Rights section of our Privacy Policy. We respond within 45 days, extendable to 90 if a request gets genuinely complex.

Contact Us

Questions about your California privacy rights, or want to confirm an opt-out actually went through? Email info@freecv.org with subject "CCPA Question". We respond within 5 business days, faster for active opt-out requests.

Not in California?

The opt-out methods on this page work for anyone, anywhere. For your full GDPR rights if you're in the EU, EEA, or UK, see the GDPR Rights section of our Privacy Policy.