Delete Your Data From Data Broker Sites - You should do it

[MDWU]

I know a lot of us have used data broker websites like TruthFinder to dox people and I always just assumed there was little you could do about these convenient dossiers floating around.
But after being served an ad for a company that will do it for you, I looked into it and it turns out it's very easy to opt yourself out and have your data deleted.

Here's a solid collection of entries on how to opt out of most of the companies people will use to dox you.

https://wiki.onerep.com

I'm working my way down the list alphabetically but if you know of any data brokers not mentioned it'd be cool if you to post them.

 

[KingFrampt]

For what it's worth, the founder of OneRep owns most of these people search sites

 

[MDWU]

For what it's worth, the founder of OneRep owns most of these people search sites

Yeah I've noticed that there's a handful of companies operating with various fronts. I wouldn't actually pay them to handle the opt outs but the DIY guide I linked seems fine.
Would there be any reason to use a third party service to double check they've complied or anything?

 

[KingFrampt]

Yeah I've noticed that there's a handful of companies operating with various fronts. I wouldn't actually pay them to handle the opt outs but the DIY guide I linked seems fine.
Would there be any reason to use a third party service to double check they've complied or anything?

OneRep's automated thing is fairly cheap ($8 a month if you buy annual) but yeah you can't really be sure they won't just keep adding you to new sites to create a perpetual loop

But like you said it's not really necessary anyway, its just time consuming cause there are so many of those sites

 

[y a t s]

Here's a good free guide. I have attached the PDF for posterity, but the site has some extra useful info made readily accessible. Just a heads up, this will take a ludicrous amount of time to do by yourself.

The author of the guide has other ones on his site that are also decent resources. I'm sure you can find them for free if you look hard enough.

 

[MDWU]

•snippage•

This is extremely helpful, thank you.
A little high self agency work every day until completed is worth it to me if it means hardening my op-sec many steps above others. Plus, less spam calls / mail

 

[y a t s]

This is extremely helpful, thank you.
A little high self agency work every day until completed is worth it to me if it means hardening my op-sec many steps above others. Plus, less spam calls / mail

There is a decent chance a number of the brokers will end up adding you to the list again later on. Very few of them have a permanent opt out policy, and many are much more stubborn and slow to respond than others.

 

[melty]

I just pay for DeleteMe so I don't have to do the work

 

[MDWU]

I just pay for DeleteMe so I don't have to do the work

I considered that but it feels like they're holding my info for ransom so I'd rather play whack-a-mole than reward an evil business model

 

[y a t s]

I just pay for DeleteMe so I don't have to do the work

Something to consider is if you don't live in the US, your options for data deletion services are pretty limited. Idk if DeleteMe operates in Canada, but I know very few do. They have to be given very limited power of attorney to make requests under privacy laws on your behalf, and many haven't bothered to work out the legal framework to operate in other countries. Eurofags with the GDPR probably have better chances than someone in Mexico, for example.

 

[Hrafn]

Eurofag here, the EU are extremely autistic about GDPR compared to the US, so while there is still a degree of worry over personal info being in places where it shouldn't be (it's the Internet and some people don't give a shit), it's definitely worse in the States. Personally I've found that public voting records are the best way to dox Americans and are how I've primarily done it in the past.

Good rule of thumb if you're an American imo is that you should never tell anyone you don't know well on the Internet your full DOB or the state you live in, as even that's enough to nail someone, especially if there's other contextual clues like how many siblings you have etc. You should contact the relevant people in your state to get your voting info redacted from the net immediately if you can.

 

[MDWU]

Yeah, I can tell these companies are going to be real niggers to work with. Had to email Intelius since the emails and phone numbers they got on me have been dead for a decade, so I can't use their Suppression Tool.
Just got a copy/pasted response from Intelius sending me into a loop to go verify myself through that tool lol.
Stupid bullshit like this is what leads people to demanding more Europoor laws.
Regardless, I persevere

 

[MDWU]

Personally I've found that public voting records are the best way to dox Americans and are how I've primarily done it in the past.

What sites have you used to do this?

 

[Hrafn]

What sites have you used to do this?

Usually it's just state voting info sites, most of them have a link to either their registry or to a search engine that can only be accessed if you can verify your social security number or another ID. I'm unsure if that's the case for every state as I've only poked through about 3 or 4 states worth of databases, so it may be different for every state. Of course as well, data brokers have this info too which they likely scrape from these register sites if not from cross referencing addresses, so nuke every source possible if you're trying to get all your info off the net.

As well, I've found that most if not all of these voting registry sites are IP locked so they're not accessible unless you're in the US, and sometimes it's locked unless you're in the state. This can easily be circumvented with a VPN and/or if you set your location to the state you're looking records up in using one. It's laughably easy to access all this info and frankly if the US is going to insist on having all of this info online, they should at least lock it behind something that only the info owner can verify like social security number by default. You'd have to be actually special needs to hand that out online so that's the safest password to it imo.

 

[MDWU]

Update on my journey to do this on my own.
I've had success with a few companies but am getting really jerked around by others.
I hate these companies so much, it's unreal. I never thought I'd want European laws brought to America, but we absolutely need an equivalent of the GDPR.

 

[MDWU]

I've had success with a few companies but am getting really jerked around by others.

4th time's the charm.
Figured I'd have to go through the same process with all of PeopleConnect Inc.'s sites but nope, they complied.