Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

The gap in what exists

Existing solutions are often complex, require manual effort, or are part of broader, expensive privacy services. There's a gap for a focused, user-friendly tool specifically for employment data privacy.

Wedge to win

Target privacy-conscious individuals, especially those with high-value employment data, offering a streamlined, automated way to monitor and remove their sensitive salary and employment information that is often sold without their explicit consent.

Reputation value (worth doing free for proof) — 70/100

Launching a tool that helps individuals reclaim privacy over their sensitive employment data would generate significant positive sentiment and media attention, building strong credibility.

Likely monetization

subscription (monthly/annual)

Incumbents to beat

DeleteMeOneRep

You are a senior full-stack developer. Create a detailed technical specification for a browser extension (Chrome and Firefox) that helps users identify, request, and manage their employment data from services like The Work Number (Equifax). The core functionality should be: 1. **Detection**: Identify when a user visits a known employment verification or data broker site. 2. **Data Request Automation**: Guide the user through requesting their personal employment report from these services, potentially pre-filling forms based on user input (e.g., name, address, SSN last 4, company). 3. **Privacy Request Generation**: Generate CCPA/GDPR-compliant data access and deletion requests (e.g., 'Do Not Sell My Information') specifically tailored for employment data, providing templates and instructions on how to submit them. 4. **Report Access Log**: Allow users to upload and store (locally or encrypted cloud) their obtained data reports and track who has accessed their report. 5. **User Interface**: A simple, intuitive pop-up UI within the browser extension for managing these actions. Focus on client-side security and data privacy (local storage where possible, strong encryption if cloud storage is considered). Use Next.js 16 App Router, React 19, Tailwind v4 for any web views, and a simple browser extension manifest. The MVP should focus on the detection and data request generation for 'The Work Number' specifically. Provide all necessary code structure, example component logic, and clear instructions for setup. Build and verify a basic Chrome extension that can detect 'theworknumber.com' and show a 'Request Data' button in the popup.