Opt out of data brokers

[Donald]

Experian in addition to providing me a credit report can tell me which of the data broker websites my personal info is listed in. Seems to be 20 or 30. Most with the exact same day in 2022. They all have an opt out process. But it often does not work. PeopleFinder.Com is an example. You do a search for yourself, copy the URL from the search. Paste it into their Opt Out webpage, add your email and they should send you a verification email to confirm and then in 24 to 48 hours, remove your info.

So I went through the process for maybe 6. Half the time I never get the verification email. The other half I do.

I wonder if these verification emails are getting blocked by a SPAM filter somewhere.

To early to see if my personal information is actually removed.

I could upgrade to a paid Experian and they would do the removal for me. Maybe I try that for a month or two.

 

[kenny91]

I know this is an old post from 2024 but dealing with those missing confirmation emails when opting out broke my patience too. I waited weeks for Whitepages to process my manual request and got absolutely nothing back. That Experian privacy upgrade you mentioned seemed way too expensive for what it delivers.

To deal with it I signed up for protectmydata.com to pull my address off those public directories automatically. Also , freeze your credit reports at all three major bureaus immediately so nobody can open accounts in your name.

 

[rstsco]

Many years ago I started using DuckDuckGo as my browser of choice. Their business model is different from Google or Chrome, who sell personal information. DuckDuckGo also sells browsing data, but aggregates the searches instead of selling "rstcso was on BITOG at 4:49am CDT and disparaged using Google or Chrome".

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

I received a free account to Incogni with my Surfshark account. It continously removes my data from data brokers.

 

[rijndael]

Google also offers a data removal service:

https://myactivity.google.com/results-about-you

You add in your address and other info, and it lets you know where it is and can request a takedown.

 

[Greenbeforeblue]

The worst offender of spam emails in my inbox is experian. I've given up on trying to "unsubscribe" and now just have them blocked. I had to create an account to freeze my credit and they've been bombing me ever since.

 

[BobsArmory]

Google also offers a data removal service:

https://myactivity.google.com/results-about-you

You add in your address and other info, and it lets you know where it is and can request a takedown.

Googles service is pretty weak. They will tell you someone like infoseek has your data. About a month later they will tell you infoseek has your data again and asks if you would like to remove them again. They do just enough to make people think they care about their privacy without really doing anything at all. To make a dent in it you have to hire a service like Optery but even then it's not permanent and they never get all the databrokers.

 

[Pablo]

I think some of these like igogni are kinda scammy. Not saying they might help a little, but if you browse safely.........they are not worth the fee. All these companies they go to will remove "you" but if you were never there, what's the point?

Most of your "stuff" is not robbed from your PC, it's given by (mostly) innocent business you dealt with because they (the business) use "free" stuff or they have weak security despite what they claim.

I mean who else has a record like this: I probably get informed of 2-3-4 data breaches per year now. EVERY one was some health care provider.

 

[BobsArmory]

There are multiple ways they are getting your data and info. Companies you do business with, websites you visit, States sell your DMV data to them, counties, towns & cities sell property tax data, states sell voting data (not who you voted for but if and how often you voted), even your car collects location time and driving habits and is sold to anyone who wants to buy it. I would think that is just a short list. There are probably many more ways they can harvest.