I can opt out all I want. If my opponent opts in and records my game, I get opted in. I have ALWAYS opted out of AREA yet I am still in the system. I didn't even turn in a playsheet for most of the tournaments you can see me listed in. You can even tell that is likely the case as some of the tournaments have me playing only 1 or 2 games. Opting out isn't enough, IMO. -- jim
Basically, you are absolutely right.
Anyone using WhatsApp? The 'terms of use' allow [which is a farce] WhatsApp access to all your contacts and their phone numbers on your smartphone - among other things...
Provided, I gave you my phone number but hate WhatsApp, don't use it and do NOT want them to get my number, what then? For sure my rights are violated and trampled on. I can only stand by absolutely powerless, while my data gets sucked away to some server under foreign jurisdiction, etc. for someone else's profit and benefit but not for mine.
WhatsApp does such things, FB, the whole damn zoo!
The whole fu
* system is fundamentally flawed at its core. Your rights as an individual are up for loot at your cost for someone else's gain.
That is why data protection is absolutely essential.
In our context, we can state that the damage done by being listed in an AREA rating against one's will is absolutely and massively dwarfed by what people are willingly and unwillingly exposed to by the big players each and every day 24/7.
Nevertheless, I think it is a concern that needs to be addressed even in the context of something comparably innocent as AREA. This makes things more difficult, sure. But it is one single grain of sand of a whole beach that needs to be tackled to change the overall system.
von Marwitz