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Reclaim Your Online Privacy

Reclaim Your Online PrivacyLast week, I was reading about doxxing, which is the slang term for the process of revealing someone’s personal information on the internet and encouraging others to harass that person. Doxxing is despicable. I don’t expect it’ll ever happen to me, but it got me thinking about what steps I could take to limit my online exposure. I was specifically looking for tips on how to scrub my personal online data off those creepy people-finder sites that seem to know just a little too much about all of us. So here’s how you can reclaim your online privacy like I did.

I found this fantastic article from ProPublica about doxxing, that has some great recommendations about how to protect yourself online. I have written about some of this before, like using strong passwords and two-factor authentication (read my article: Yes, You Need to Fix Your Password Mess).

I was delighted that a section of the ProPublica article covered people search sites, so I decided to see what they had on me, and take steps to suppress personal details. Here’s what I did, adapted from, and with great thanks to ProPublica.

Caveat: when it comes to online security, there is no such thing as a foolproof solution, and it’s impossible to achieve 100% privacy. As with so many other issues of online security (read my article: Life After Equifax), we all need to act as our own advocates and take charge of the situation. This is a good start, but if you opt out of all the sites below, your personal information will probably still be out there on other sites.

Start with Google

It’s surprisingly easy to find personal information online. Just Google search your name and enjoy the show. I looked for links to sites mentioned in the ProPublica piece. They were all there, along with another one I’d never heard of. Here’s what I did on each site to scrub myself… this is a long article, but it really only took about twenty thirty forty-five minutes an hour to get through these six eight ten eleven opt-outs.

Update: March 2018
Found another one. Added it to the bottom of the list.

Let’s Get Started with Opt-Outs

Site #1: WhitePages

Here are the steps I followed to opt out of WhitePages:

  1. Start by going to whitepages.com and searching your name and the city you live in.
  2. Copy the URL of the page with your information on it.
  3. Go to https://www.whitepages.com/suppression_requests and paste the URL in.
  4. Enter a phone number where they can contact you, and submit the form.
  5. You will receive a phone call immediately, and a pleasant recorded voice will explain what’s going on, and read you a code.
  6. Type the code into the form still on your screen and submit it. Congratulations! You are done with your first opt-out.

Site #2: WhitePages Premium

Sadly, once you opt out of whitepages.com, you still show up in search results. They continue to show some creepy info like your full name and names of relatives, but the rest of your information is behind a paywall to WhitePages Premium. To opt out (again!) from WhitePages so you come out of Premium too, here’s what to do:

  1. Start by going to whitepages.com and searching your name and the city you live in.
  2. Copy the URL of the page with your information on it.
  3. Go to https://support.whitepages.com/hc/en-us/requests/new and set the popup at the top of the form to “Edit or Remove listing.”
  4. You’ll see another screen with more fields to fill out. You’ll need to paste in the URL you collected above, enter your email address, and politely ask them to remove your results from WhitePages Premium.
  5. You’ll receive an email with a link to click, which takes you back to their site for confirmation.
  6. You’ll receive another email from WhitePages support confirming your request and explaining the process further.

Note: You may not show up in WhitePages Premium until after your WhitePages opt-out takes hold, so you may have to wait a couple days before you do this one.


Site #3: PeopleFinders

Getting off PeopleFinders is pretty easy. It’s all done in one series of web pages, with no emails or phone calls like the others. Here’s how to scrub yourself off PeopleFinders:

  1. Start by going to peoplefinders.com and searching your name and the city you live in.
  2. In the results, click the button next to an entry that matches you.
  3. At the top of the details displayed for you, click on the button.
  4. On the next screen, agree to their rules and click continue.
  5. They’ll try to sell you a background check report on yourself. You can skip this.
  6. Finally, you’ll receive a confirmation, which looks more like a commercial for the site.

Site #4: Spokeo

By now you’ve probably got a rhythm going. This one’s very much like WhitePages, so it’ll go quickly. Here’s what to do:

  1. Go to spokeo.com and search your name.
  2. If your name is listed in the results, click on the button next to your listing.
  3. Copy the url of the page with your profile details.
  4. Go to spokeo.com/optout and paste in the url of your profile page. You’ll need to supply your email address as well. Submit the form.
  5. You’ll receive an email with a link to click to confirm your opt-out. Click the link, and you’re all done.

Site #5: BeenVerified

As noted by ProPublica, this site is fussy about spelling. It may take a couple tries at BeenVerified.com to find your profile if you go by a nickname, or if you’ve changed your name at some point. Once you’ve located yourself, here’s what to do:

  1. Go to BeenVerified’s opt-out page and search for yourself again.
  2. In the list of results, find your profile and click anywhere on it to begin the opt-out process.
  3. In the next screen, enter your email address and submit the form.
  4. Click on the big “Verify Opt-Out” button in the email to complete the opt-out for BeenVerified.

Site #6: Intelius

ProPublica’s instructions for Intelius say you need to scan a form of ID and submit it to them. While this may have been true in the past, it’s happily no longer the case. (Good thing, because it sounds really creepy.) Here are current instructions for Intelius opt-out:

  1. Head to the Intelius opt-out page and enter your name.
  2. Click the big Opt Out button on your entry in the search results.
  3. You’ll get a page where you can enter your email address. Enter it and submit the form.
  4. Click the link in the email you receive. You’ll receive another email confirming your opt-out.

The Fun Never Ends

Once I opted out of the services above, two more moved up in my Google search results. I hadn’t noticed them the first time around. So here’s round two…

Site #7: TruePeopleSearch

Opt-out for TruePeopleSearch is much like the others. Here’s the drill:

  1. Go to the TruePeopleSearch record removal page and search for your name.
  2. Agree to their terms demonstrate you’re not a robobt. You’ll then get kicked into their standard search screens. Search for your name again.
  3. Find your record in the list of search results and click the button
  4. Scroll down the page quite a ways until you see the button. Click it.
  5. You will be taken to a confirmation page that states your record will be removed within a few hours.

Site #8: Nuwber

Nuwber has its own public record-scraping capabilities, plus it shows sponsored links for paid search sites (see It’s Starting to Feel Like Groundhog Day below).

  1. Start by going to nuwber.com and conducting a search.
  2. Click on the entry that matches you, and copy the url to your page of data.
  3. Go to https://nuwber.com/removal/link, paste in the url of your data, and then click submit. You may have to verify your human identity to proceed.

It’s Starting to Feel Like Groundhog Day

These services pay to promote their reports on Nuwber, so you still show up on Nuwber even if you’ve opted out there. Here’s round three…

Site #9: Instant CheckMate

Instant CheckMate is a paid service. If you search yourself, you get put through a long, theatrical process of progress bars and titillating teasers, and after many screens and about ten minutes, you get hit up for money to view the full results. Still, along the way, you get to see quite a bit of information on yourself, so it’s good to opt out here too. Plus: Instant CheckMate pays to promote their results on Nuwber, exposing your basic personal information and family relationships on Nuwber’s search results even if you’ve opted out of Nuwber. So, skip the Instant CheckMate search and attempts to get you to pay, and just opt out by doing this:

  1. Go to the Instant CheckMate removal page and search for your name.
  2. On the page of results, find your record and click on the big button.
  3. The next screen will collect your email address. Enter it and submit the form.
  4. Look for an email from Instant CheckMate and click on the green CONFIRM OPT-OUT button in the message.
  5. Your opt-out will be confirmed once web page loads. (It didn’t for me the first time, so I had to click the button in the email a second time.)

Site #10: TruthFinder

TruthFinder makes you sit through their dramatic progress bars and titillating teasers so you can copy the text of the page and email it to them to opt out. What a ridiculous process. Skip the side show and go straight to the opt-out page.

  1. Go to https://www.truthfinder.com/opt-out/ and enter your information to begin a search.
  2. Find your record in the list and click the big green button at the right of our entry.
  3. You’ll be prompted for an email address. Enter it and you’ll receive an email with a link to remove yourself from TruthFinder

Site #11: Persopo

Like TruthFinder, Persopo makes you sit through their teasers and drama so you can copy the text of the page and email it to them to opt out. Even more ridiculous is their opt-out process, which makes you sit through the drama of their “search,” so you can copy the entire text contents of the web page and email it to them. This is just dumb. Here’s the page that has their opt-out screen scrape instructions, http://info.persopo.com/opt-out.html, complete with a video on how to do it.



Update: March, 2018 – Site #12: PeekYou

Getting off PeekYou is also pretty easy. It does require a couple of emails to verify the deletion. Here’s how to scrub yourself off PeekYou:

  1. Start by going to PeekYou.com and searching your name and the city you live in.
  2. In the search results list, click on the match for you.
  3. On the details screen, make note of the long number at the end of the page URL. (For example, if the page url is https://www.peekyou.com/my_name/123456789, you’ll need to keep track of the 123456789 part.) This is your record ID – you’ll need it in the opt-out step.
  4. Go to the PeekYou opt-out page and fill out the form there.
  5. You’ll receive a verification email once you submit the opt-out form. Reply to the message to verify.
  6. Finally, you’ll receive a confirmation email.

Eleven Twelve Sites and I’ve Had It!

Well that was a load of fun, wasn’t it? I actually did all these sites twice. Once for myself, and then again for my wife while I documented the steps. Keep at it, and before you know it you’ll have a lot less personal information hanging out on the Internet. Good luck!

Further Notes:

Privacy photo by Thomas Leuthard (2008-2017)

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