PC Mag: “Four data brokers have made their opt-out pages easier for internet users to find after a US senator’s investigation found the pages had been hidden from search engines.  Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) made the announcement on Friday after she pressured data brokers to make changes. “Hiding or burying opt-out options for data collection” can prevent Americans from protecting their privacy, she said. The four data brokers—Comscore, IQVIA Digital, Telesign, and 6sense Insights—collect and sell personal information for marketing or identity verification purposes. Although the data broker industry is legal, it has long faced controversy over how that data, including Social Security numbers and location data, can be sold for shady purposes or leaked through breaches…Data brokers typically offer an opt-out form that allows a user to request that their collected data be deleted. But last year, an investigation by The Markup and CalMatters found that 35 data brokers operating in California tried to hide their opt-out and data-deletion instructions from Google’s search results by placing computer code on the opt-out pages that blocked search engines from indexing them. Some of the data brokers later deleted the computer code after The Markup/CalMatters reached out. However, Sen. Hassan’s office found that Comscore, IQVIA Digital, Telesign, and 6sense Insights continued to place the “no index” code on their opt-out-related pages. All four have since removed the code, according to Sen. Hassan. Two providers, 6sense and IQVIA, said they added the code to help reduce spam; Comscore and Telesign couldn’t determine why the no-index code was placed…”