Thread: Your Personal Data On The Internet

It’s vital and important that we do not share anything about each other we may learn. To help protect each other. Do not EVER publicly share each other’s email addresses, messenger app names etc... let each give out their own info if they choose... unless it’s a scammer... blast those fools of course with solid proof and facts...

If you all don’t know by now, we leave trails on the internet. In the ever growing issue of data breaches and privacy violations, we are even more vulnerable... don’t believe me? Ever google your own phone number? Each of your user names? Your very own name? Your email addresses? It’s effin sick.

What you’ll find over and over again is you. Your personal data out there for anyone to see. You’ll be directed to people finder type websites where all one needs is your name and age and a last known city you lived... wallah, your family members, old addresses, places of employment, information from your credit report, your crimes, phone numbers... everything needed to steal your identity or to even find your current home. Any property you own, taxes you’ve paid in such... every thing... try it out. Search your phone number(s), user names, emails, your actual name... see what comes up... it may freak you out though... as it rightly should...

So take action... it’s going to either cost you time or money... or both... don’t be vulnerable on the net. Protect yourself the best you can...


First, find out where your data appears. Some of the less scrupulous sites may actually retain information typed into their search boxes, so it’s best to use a search engine if possible... It sucks, but some of the websites may retain your information that you type into THEIR search box... so try to look from outside (if possible) of their search feature by:
Type your name followed by “site:” and the URL of the people finder service. Or reverse by typing in the site and backslash, then your name... not fail safe or always able but it’s worth a try... Next, scrounge around until you find the site’s opt-out policy....

Some of main names of these privacy violating pieces of crap are:

1. Spokeo
2. People finder
3. People finders (yes it’s a different website than people finder)
4. BeenVerified
5. FamilyTreeNow
6. PeekYou
7. PeopleSmart
8. PrivateEye
9. PublicRecords360
10. Radaris
11. USA People Search
12. WhitePages
13. Intelius
Below are Intelius owned or affiliated companies. However you have to physically remove yourself from each. Unfortunately.
1. PeopleFinder
2. USSearch
3. ZabaSearch
4. PeopleLookUp
5. Public Records
6. Spock
7. iSearch
8. PhonesBook
9. DateCheck
10. Lookup
11. LookUpAnyone

You can hire a company such as:

abine.com DeleteMe

Or

Reputation.com | Reputation Management, Reputation

Brothers and sisters these are the only 2 websites I can say are safe... there are a crap ton of scam sites claiming to do this service but are fraudulent. A whole friggin lot of them... reputation.com is geared towards businesses now, however they do personal scrubs as well. But you’ll need to contact customer service and work the deal.

OR

If you choose to go it on your own here’s some already discovered processes for a few of the websites: sorry, the links won’t embed :0(

BeenVerified
BeenVerified’s opt-out policy is easy to find—it’s right in the site footer, as Remove My Info. To opt out, you must find your listing using the search tool at the top of the Remove My Info page, not the site’s main search box. Click on the That’s the One button, enter an email address, and fill out the CAPTCHA challenge. BeenVerified will send a verification email to that address. If you do not click on the link in that email, your request will not be processed, so check your spam folder if the email doesn’t show up.

FamilyTreeNow
FamilyTreeNow buries its opt-out link in the middle of its privacy policy, under the Opt Out of Living People Records*section. From the opt-out link, fill out the CAPTCHA and click on the button Begin Opt Out Procedure. The page will then display a search tool to look for records. As with BeenVerified, if you don’t use the specific search tool on the opt-out page, you can’t send an opt-out request.*When you find the actual listing, it will display with a red Opt Out This Record button. (This button will not appear unless you start the search from the opt-out page.) Click on the button to send a removal request.
Links throughout the site instruct you to copy and paste the URL containing your information and send it to Customer Service using an online contact form. Don’t bother—those requests will be ignored.


Intelius
The Intelius Opt-Out online form requires that you upload a file containing a scan of your identification. Acceptable identification includes a driver’s license, a U.S. ********, a military card, a state ID card, or an employee ID card from a state agency. The email address is optional for receiving a confirmation link, but it’s a good idea to provide it since the same address will be used to send a final email after the process is complete. Don’t forget to fill out the CAPTCHA box.
Intelius also accepts notarized statements proving identity using its Notarized Identification Verification Form instead of government-issued ID. Requests can also be faxed to 425-974-6194 or mailed to Intelius Consumer Affairs, P.O. Box 4145, Bellevue, WA 98009-4145. Use your cover letter template for either method.
As mentioned above, Intelius owns or is affiliated with ZabaSearch, PeopleLookup, Public Records, Spock, iSearch, PhonesBook, DateCheck, LookUp, PeopleFinder, and LookupAnyone. Removing yourself from one does not get you off the others—yes, you have to extract yourself from each one individually. ZabaSearch only honors requests by fax, whereas PeopleLookup accepts both postal mail and fax. Neither have online opt-out options.
Oddly, the opt-out fax number and mailing address for USSearch is the same as Intelius Customer Service, but you can’t include USSearch as part of the Intelius request. And the only way to submit the opt-out request is by fax.


PeekYou
PeekYou includes its opt-out link inside the FAQ on the Privacy page. Before you go to the online form, find the listing containing your information. The URL has a string of numbers that acts as a unique identifier. Copy that numeric string from the URL and paste it into the Unique ID field on the online form.
Under Actions, select Remove My Entire Listing from the drop-down box, and in the Message box, write: “As per your privacy policy, please remove my listing from PeekYou and all other affiliated people search sites. Thank you for your help with this personal security issue.” There will be an immediate email confirming receipt of the request—and another a few days later after the listing has been deleted.

PeopleFinder
PeopleFinder looks like an easy opt out, but that’s only a trick. Each listing has an opt-out link toward the bottom of the Get More Detailed Information box, along with an opt-out link toward the bottom of the privacy policy. Click the link in the listing—because that will ensure your information is prepopulated in the fields. The form needs your full name, city, state, ZIP code, and either a phone number or the street address in order to process a removal request (no need to provide the email address). On the page, select a Removal Reason (“general privacy concerns” is appropriate here).
Unfortunately, at this point, things stop being easy. I got an error message saying there was no listing associated with the search criteria and I should submit a help request. That’s strange since I had gone directly from the listing page. I then went to the help page and entered my name, email address, and a description of the problem. Then I got an error message saying all fields were required, though there were no other fields on the form. It appears to be a bug in the JavaScript validation. I turned off JavaScript in the browser and submitted my info successfully.


PeopleFinders
PeopleFinders (plural) is totally different from PeopleFinder and buries its opt-out link deep, deep in the site. It took me four clicks from the main page to get to the privacy policy, the help page, and the FAQ page before finally landing on the opt-out page.
Enter your information in the search tool and click on the This Is Me button next to the correct listing. The listing page has two buttons: Keep Showing My Info and Opt Out My Info. Click on the blue opt-out button (make sure to turn on JavaScript if you recently finished with PeopleFinder) and check off the agreement that PeopleFinders will block the record from being displayed. Fill out the CAPTCHA and click on the Continue button. You’ll be asked if you’d like to buy a copy of your report before it disappears forever—you can skip that offer.


PeopleSmart
Opting out of PeopleSmart is straightforward. Go to the opt-out page and search for your listing. When you click on the That’s The One button to select your listing, you will be asked who is opting out: yourself, family member, or other. PeopleSmart also needs your email address to send a verification link, so don’t forget to click on the link in that email. I was able to opt out myself and family members this way. Easy!

PrivateEye
At least PrivateEye doesn’t require that you find a fax machine. Instead, you need to fill in this opt-out PDF form, print it, and send it*via snail mail. Make sure you fill out only those fields for which PrivateEye already has info about you; no need to provide additional details the company can use to create a new record. The address to send the form: Opt-Out/PrivateEye.com, P.O. Box 110850, Naples, FL 34108


PublicRecords360
With PublicRecords360, it’s really difficult to submit a valid request. According to the instructions, you must first send a scan of your identification to the email address [email protected]. (If you created a notarized statement for Intelius or other sites, you can use it for PublicRecords360 as well.) After you email your proof of identity, complete the online form—actually a GoogleForm—with the name and the URL of your listing. In Information To Be Removed, I selected All Information.


Radaris
Radaris publishes opt-out instructions on its removal page, but the goal here is to make the process so annoying that people will give up. The first step is to find your listing. Next to the name, there’s an orange Get Report button, and next to that is a grey downward-pointing arrow button. Click on that and a menu will open with the option to Control Information.
Select that option and you’ll go to a page with three links: Claim This Profile, Radar Updates, and Remove Information. Clicking on the latter opens up a window that says in order to proceed, you must create an account. After you’ve created that account, you can remove all the fields, but to save the changes, you have to enter your phone number so that you can receive a verification code via SMS.

Spokeo
To remove your info from Spokeo, you have to find your listing and copy the URL first. Then go to Spokeo’s opt-out page and paste the URL into the form. You need to provide an email address to receive the confirmation link and complete the CAPTCHA challenge. Make sure to click on that link in the email! You’ll get a second email once the process is complete.
Unfortunately, if your phone number shows up under Spokeo, that’s going to stay. I managed to remove my name from Spokeo, but a reverse lookup of my mobile phone number brings up my name and address.

USA People Search
Fill out the search criteria form*to find your public profile. Click on That’s The One, at which point the site will tell you your IP address. Fill out the CAPTCHA and check off the agreement. So nice and easy!


Whitepages
Whitepages is perhaps the most annoying service of all, because to remove information, you have to register with the service. That’s right: To get off Whitepages, you need to become a member.
Search for your information using first name, last name, city, and state, and copy the URL of the listing that contains your information. Then log in to the site, either by creating a new account (feel free to use a throwaway email address) or logging into an existing one. Then click on the Remove From Directory link in the page footer to get sent to the Opt out of Whitepages*page. If you aren’t logged in, you’ll be prompted before you can access the opt-out page. Paste in the URL of the listing to remove on this page and confirm by clicking on the Remove button.


That’s all I got for now... please feel free to add places I missed... I know there’s a lot more...

Protect yourselves brothers and sisters.