[anonymouz]

Somewhat tangential but related: I'm not familiar with data privacy regulation in the US, but under EU regulation most of the "trust" guarantees made by this startup would be legally mandatory.

Does anyone know: Under US law, would a company be legally allowed to sell personal data without my permission? Would it be allowed to retain my data against my express wish?

[tristanthomas]

One thing we want to combat against as well as direct selling of data which as you note is normally illegal is the use of your data within the company for other purposes (Google comes up as an obvious choice in selling advertisements against the information in your personal email, contacts and documents).

[antidoh]

If the company is bought by another company, then your data is now owned or managed by the new company. Hopefully it will be a company you trust.