Update April 2017. It appears that the same people behind the website mentioned below have created another nearly-identical website. Even if you opted-out last time, all of your sensitive personal information is up again on this website. You must opt-out again by clicking on “Privacy” at the bottom and then the “record removal link” (alternatively, try this) and then following the directions. This one allows reverse address and phone lookups as well.
Original post:
If you don’t like the idea of anyone being able to look up your address history and the names of all your relatives, you may want to enter your name into this website. Depending on the information it has gathered on your from public records, it may list personal information about you such as:
- Your current and past addresses.
- Names and birth years of your parents, siblings, cousins, and in-laws.
- All of their current and past addresses.
- Any variations of your name ever used.
While all of this information is technically in the public domain, I don’t know of any other website that has it organized in such an accessible manner that is both free and does not require any registration. The website was so detailed that it included addresses that even I had forgotten about, as well as name of relatives that I barely know (which is the intended upside, I suppose). I’m more worried about the downside.
The good news is that the website will delete your information upon request. First, you may want to save whatever information they collected about you into a PDF. Next, I would try visiting this opt-out link directly and following the directions carefully. Alternatively, you can follow the opt-out instructions in this Time article. It only takes a minute, and my name record was removed within 48 hours as promised. Found via Bogleheads.
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That seems quite scary that anyone can find this information. Luckily I am in Australia so I believe I should be safe. Scary none the less.
This is the type of thing that makes your blog so valuable. Thanks.
Hello,
Does this require that those connected to you contact them as well? Do I need my mom, sister, etc. to contact and request removal?
You are able to request the removal of a person’s page on their behalf, but I suppose you should make sure they want their info removed first.
I went all through it and never found the red button to Opt Out. Of course in the process, I had to give them my email address so now I will get more junk mail.
I don’t recall ever having to give them an e-mail…
My email was not requested.
I entered my name and clicked the “Start your journey link” and got a “no records found” result. Did you do something more in depth to see all your results?
My listing was under a nickname, not my full legal name.
The opt out button is at the top of the first page.
I certainly don’t see it.
Did anyone see addresses, I didn’t see any?
Jonathan, how is your age/ birth year “public domain”? Is there a public resource you’re aware of that makes that information available to the publice (pardon any redundancy).
Based on the siblings/counsins/in-laws listed I’m guessing they scour FB profiles to compile connections, and match that with data from other source(s) (I had to check my FB settings just now to check my profile settings).
Here’s a random page of a “John Smith”. Scroll to the bottom to see all past addresses.
http://www.familytreenow.com/search/people/results?first=john&last=smith&rid=0su&smck=VElCN8uGJsM1x2oDOx9MrQ
Ever the skeptic, my concern in choosing to opt out is that they now have more information, such as email, to try to dig up more info they may be compiling for another purpose.
You don’t have to provide email for this opt-out
I must be lucky, I didn’t show up on the website. I was surprised to find numerous people with same name and birth year.
Beware! Looks like the company has now created a new site: http://www.truepeoplesearch.com
Thanks for the tip. Looks like we need to remove everything manually again.
Do they really remove the information after the request? I wonder if they just move the info to some list they sell as ‘verified’ instead since a real human has confirmed this was their record. Thanks for the tip!
Well, I tried from different IP addresses and it appears that the removed record is no longer viewable by the public. I suppose that has to be good enough for me.
I keep getting “There has been an unknown error, please try again.” while trying to search the new site for my name and some of my relatives as well as phone numbers. I did get all of us removed from the old site earlier this year.