If you walk into a store and buy something, does the owner not have a right to record relevant personal information as it pertains to the sale, such as when buying a car? This idea that those vendors ought to be required to delete records seems backwards — you aren’t required to interact with entities that do things you don’t like — unless it’s the government, no escaping that.

Public records are potentially more harmful than anything Facebook has. For example, I just shipped a 20 foot container of household goods to the US from France — that manifest, including my personal information is public record — I have to explicitly send a letter and request privacy for that shipment — and then remember to renew that request each year or else details of my entire shipment, including my address and contact information are available publicly. Thanks government. I can’t simply use another shipping company — it’s a government rule. When GDPR applies to governments, then I might become a fan, but as it is now, I am being “protected” from my Facebook likes or web history but what protections do I have from governments who traffic in my information. There is zero reason my shipment manifest needs to be known beyond Customs or the shipping company moving the goods, yet, here we are. Facebook never committed mass murder — but governments certainly have. Google Analytics data doesn’t have a realistic chance of causing harm — but someone with my address and a manifest of a shipment of expensive stuff results in a potential for real harm — that stuff is literally public record with absolutely no controls over who can buy that information.