None of us signed up to buy and sell our personal information online. Details occur constantly between data brokers, people’s search sites, and all other places, usually unnoticed.
If you’ve Googled yourself and found your phone number or home address floating on a suspiciously-looking website, you know the sensation.
If that’s you, you may probably start looking for ways to improve the situation and wonder if it’s better to delete your own personal information yourself from the web or use a data deletion service. I have tried both and this is what I learned.
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What you do yourself sounds doable at first
When the data broker issue first got on my radar (given, because data deletion services started to emerge), I thought I could opt out myself. After all, most of them have opt-out pages with processes. For example, White Pages, one of the most popular talent search sites, has the following process:
Search for names and addresses on the white page, find the correct list, copy the profile URL to the white page suppression page, paste the URL into the field and send a deletion request. This includes several substeps, such as verifying the data, stating the reason for the request, and providing a contact phone number. WhitePages will call you immediately to verify your identity. If you miss a call, you will need to restart the process.
This is just an example, but other search sites have a similar opt-out process that takes or takes several steps.
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Reality Check: Why Manual Deletion Fast and Overwhelmed
If you want to remove information from all (or most) of the data brokers that have it, here are some things you have to do.
Find the broker who has your data. There are hundreds there. By doing a quick Google search, you can find a data broker heading to the public or People Search site. However, private data brokers selling dataset B2B (business-to-business) need to dig a little more. You may need to know what is working in your area and send a deletion request to them. Read the opt-out instructions (some are intentionally vague or buried) and go through the process one by one. Repeat the process regularly. Data brokers often re-collect information unless they continue to check in and send new requests. That’s not just one situation. If you are committed to keeping your data private, you will need to continue monitoring and deleting.
It’s definitely feasible, but not painful. While this is easy on some sites, others require you to upload your ID (not recommended), or ask them to send a snail email or reject the request unless you use a specific email domain.
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Data Deletion Services automate this process
Since then, we have tried to handle complexity on your behalf using data deletion services that automate the opt-out process. See below for what this gives you.
Comprehensive coverage: To maintain an updated list of data brokers and their opt-out procedures, information is removed from more sources than you manage yourself. This saves a lot of time and effort. Continuous Deletion: As long as you subscribe, you will find that these services can’t pop up again as they continue to monitor and delete information from the data broker site.
I didn’t need to babysit the process and I didn’t need to guess if it was working or not. Updated when removal was confirmed.
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Let’s break it down
If you are still weighing the options, here is how the two approaches stack up.
Opting out of the manual requires a significant amount of time investment and you will need to personally navigate the unique removal process for each data broker. Although it’s free, this approach offers a variety of coverage depending on how enthusiastic you track your broker, making it difficult to be consistent. You need to repeat the data regularly to keep it private. Success also depends heavily on the ability to decipher obscure opt-out orders and adapt to each broker’s requirements.
In contrast, data deletion services save time by handling legwork. They provide wide coverage by targeting a large number of brokers simultaneously and maintain consistency through continuous monitoring. These services come with subscription fees, but eliminate the need for personal expertise and provide handoff solutions for data privacy.
Conclusion: Why Personal Data Deletion Services Wins Privacy Battle
After testing both manual opt-out and automated services, you will emerge as a clear solution for replaying your data using personal data deletion services. Although there are no services that promise to delete all data from the internet, deleting a deletion service is great if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process of continuously deleting information from hundreds of sites over a long period of time. Please see the top picks for data deletion services.
Important takeouts in your cart
With time and patience, you can definitely take the DIY route. However, if you are looking for ways to protect your privacy without sinking time into research, filling out forms, or monitoring, data deletion services will make things faster and more convenient. For most people, this is probably a better option. Many states have privacy laws that give data brokers the right to request that you delete your personal information, but the system appears to be equipped to make these rights unfairly difficult. Although not necessary, the data deletion service provides a way to cheat that system.
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