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.