Updated 2019 with more websites. “People would care more about privacy if they knew how exposed they already are online,” says Geoffrey A. Fowler in his WSJ article Your Data Is Way More Exposed Than You Realize.
I hear this all the time: “I have nothing to hide.” The truth is, pretty much everybody does something online they have reason to keep private.
I would have to agree. These days, it just takes a few clicks to find out your age, current and past addresses, phone numbers, and the names of your parents, siblings, children, cousins, and in-laws (and thus all of their information). Try entering your own name and city into one of the first few websites on this list:
- Peoplefinders.com – Public access to your current and past addresses, phone numbers, relatives and associates. Opt out at www.peoplefinders.com/manage.
- InstantCheckMate.com – Public access to your current and past addresses, phone numbers, relatives and associates. Opt out at www.instantcheckmate.com/opt-out.
- FamilyTreeNow.com – Public access to your current and past addresses, phone numbers, relatives and associates. Opt out at www.familytreenow.com/optout.
- TruePeopleSearch.com – Public access to your current and past addresses, phone numbers, relatives and associates. Opt out at www.truepeoplesearch.com/removal.
- MyHeritage.com – Must e-mail them at privacy@myheritage.com to remove information.
- Geni.com – Must e-mail them at privacy@geni.com to opt out.
- Spokeo.com – Public/paid access to birth month, email, current and past addresses, phone numbers, relatives, social networks and court records. Opt out at spokeo.com/optout.
- Acxiom is a data broker that uses information to target ads and marketing. I found some unique data on there, although supposedly it’s not public (just up for sale). Opt out at acxiom.com/optout.
Opt out. For most of these websites, there is an opt-out option hidden in either their “Terms & Conditions” or “Privacy Policy” pages. Even though many of these sites appears to be clones of each other, you must opt out of each of them individually. The only “good” news is that where available, my opt out requests were fulfilled and I can’t find those records even a year later. It’s like stomping a cockroach but knowing there are more that you just can’t see.
Here are some related resources:
Facebook and Google serve as bottomless vacuums of your personal data. These tools help show you exactly what they keep.
- StalkScan.com – Not public. Just links to specific parts of your own Facebook profile. Find out everything that Facebook stores about you, even if it’s hard to find otherwise.
- Google Maps Timeline – Google may be tracking your location all day long and keeping records forever. Not public. You can log in and request your data to be deleted.
- Google My Activity – Google may be tracking every search and your web browsing history and keeping records. Not public. You can log in and request your data to be deleted.
Free Consumer Reports. You can also get a copy of your data stored at official consumer reporting agencies via the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
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Try these as well:
http://www.instantcheckmate.com
http://www.geni.com
Thanks
Another one:
https://www.myheritage.com
Any idea how to opt out from this website?
Be careful with opting out.
In today’s upside down world, an opt-out signals that their data is good. This, paradoxically, improves their data and potentially helps them pull even more.
There is an argument to be made that the best strategy is to ignore them.
Most of my data is wrong, but I opted out anyway. How does this signal that their data is good?
Found some more:
1. Whitepages.com
https://support.whitepages.com/hc/en-us/articles/203263794-Remove-my-listing-from-Whitepages-
Their opt out guide seems outdated and useless, no idea how to opt out
2. ZoomInfo.com
http://www.zoominfo.com/business/about-zoominfo/privacy-center
http://www.zoominfo.com/lookupEmail
Not sure if this works or not.
Hi Jonathan,
Here is another data collection agency, theretailequation.com. They track your returns and flag you. You can be denied a return.
“What Is The Retail Equation?
The Retail Equation (TRE), headquartered in Irvine, Calif., is the industry leader in retail transaction optimization solutions at the point of sale and point of return. The company has been in business since 1999 to help retailers deliver a better customer shopping experience, while preventing retail fraud/abuse and protecting the bottom line. The company has a variety of technology solutions used by top-tier retailers across North America. The most common is Verify® Return Authorization, which uses statistical modeling and analytics to detect fraudulent and abusive behavior when returns are processed at retailers’ return counters. TRE’s software also helps retailers reward good customers with incentives at the point of sale or return.”
How to get info on yourself.
Consumers can contact TRE by sending an e-mail to ReturnActivityReport@TheRetailEquation.com or a letter to The Retail Equation, P.O. Box 51373, Irvine, CA 92619-1373 USA. Requests should include the consumer’s name and a phone number where he/she can be contacted. When TRE calls, the company will ask for the consumer’s driver’s license number and state, to enable a database search. TRE representatives prefer to call consumers to avoid sending personal information via e-mail or mail.
hi Jonathan,
Sam here and yet another story about how our personal information impacts our health insurance bill.
Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You — And It Could Raise Your Rates
https://www.propublica.org/article/health-insurers-are-vacuuming-up-details-about-you-and-it-could-raise-your-rates
Optum. The company, owned by the massive UnitedHealth Group, has collected the medical diagnoses, tests, prescriptions, costs and socioeconomic data of 150 million Americans going back to 1993, according to its marketing materials. (UnitedHealth Group provides financial support to NPR.) The company says it uses the information to link patients’ medical outcomes and costs to details like their level of education, net worth, family structure and race.
Optum’s marketing materials also boast that it now has access to even more. In 2016, the company filed a patent application to gather what people share on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and link this material to the person’s clinical and payment information.
The industry has a history of boosting profits by signing up healthy people and finding ways to avoid sick people — called “cherry-picking” and “lemon-dropping,” experts say. Among the classic examples: A company was accused of putting its enrollment office on the third floor of a building without an elevator, so only healthy patients could make the trek to sign up. Another tried to appeal to spry seniors by holding square dances.
the Trump administration is promoting short-term health plans, which do allow insurers to deny coverage to sick patients.
People who downsize their homes tend to have higher health care costs, the company says.
A high school dropout who had a recent income loss and doesn’t have a relative nearby might have higher than expected health costs.
But couldn’t that same type of person be healthy? I asked.
“Sure,” McCulley said, with no apparent dismay at the possibility that the predictions could be wrong.
Aetna had obtained personal information from a data broker on millions of Americans. The data contained each person’s habits and hobbies, like whether they owned a gun, and if so, what type, she said. It included whether they had magazine subscriptions, liked to ride bikes or run marathons. It had hundreds of personal details about each person.
In Europe, data protection is a constitutional right
Jonathan thanks so much for the links and instructions. These parasites are the best argument I’ve ever seen for taking the law into your hands. And what a pleasure it would be.
Thanks Jonathan for the links, I’ve been meaning to do this for some time. Been putting it off because some of these are a huge PITA to opt-out requiring different emails and/or even IP addresses, nevermind the ones you have to email or call. I had to make 4 throwaway email addresses and use a VPN. Here are a couple others I’ve found:
https://www.peoplelooker.com/f/optout/search
https://www.beenverified.com/blog/2012/01/25/opting-out-of-beenverified/ (must do via email)
https://www.freepublicprofile.com/Removal
https://wiki.onerep.com/post/mylife.com (email or call)
Jonathan – please add ‘mylife.com’ to your opt-out list. Although you do have a favorable ‘reputation score!’
https://joindeleteme.com/help/kb/how-to-remove-yourself-from-mylife/
I ended up signing up to that DeleteMe service. I think the cost is reasonable and the service has decent reviews.
Also, beenverified.como