Opt-Out of People Search Databases

 

Data brokers - people search companies - gather information about individuals from a number of sources, and place that information into databases that they then make available on-line. The information is then available to anyone with an Internet connection, for free or perhaps for a small fee. The information in these databases may contain your name, home address, telephone number, e-mail address, date of birth or age, and the names of family members. Fee based databases often contain much more information than is available in the databases you can access for free; but even the free databases may contain more information than you want available to anyone with an Internet connection.

Some data brokers make it easy to remove your information from their publicly viewable databases, while other (less responsible?) companies make it very difficult for you to remove your personal information.

Below are the opt-out / removal links for several of these data brokers. If your threat model is concerned with protecting this type of personal information you should work through the opt-out procedures for each of these companies and remove as much of your personal information as possible from their on-line databases.

Address Search - https://www.addresssearch.com/remove-info.php
AnyWho - http://www.anywho.com/help/privacy
Been Verified - https://www.beenverified.com/faq/opt-out/
DOB Search - https://www.dobsearch.com (Select "Manage My Listing.)
Family Tree Now - http://www.familytreenow.com/optout
Fast People Search - https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/removal
Go Lookup - https://golookup.com/support/optout
Info Tracer - https://members.infotracer.com/customer/terms?tab=optout
Intelius - https://www.intelius.com/optout.php
Instant Checkmate - https://www.instantcheckmate.com/optout/
John Doe - https://johndoe.com/optout_request
LexisNexis - http://www.lexisnexis.com/privacy/
LexisNexis (KnowX) - https://optout.lexisnexis.com/oo.jsp
Locate Family - https://www.locatefamily.com/removal.html
LookUp - http://www.lookup.com/optout.php
Nuwber - https://nuwber.com/removal/link
PeekYou - http://www.peekyou.com/about/contact/optout/
People Finder - http://www.peoplefinder.com/optout.php 
People Finders - https://www.peoplefinders.com/manage
People Looker - https://www.peoplelooker.com/f/optout/search
People Search Now - https://www.peoplesearchnow.com/opt-out
People Smart - https://www.peoplesmart.com/optout-go
Phone Detective - https://www.phonedetective.com/PD.aspx?_act=OptOutPolicy
Pipl - https://pipl.com/help/remove/ 
Private Eye - https://secure.privateeye.com/optout-form.pdf
Public Records Directory - https://publicrecords.directory/contact.php
Radaris - https://radaris.com/page/how-to-remove
Research.Com - https://www.research.com/people-search/opt-out
Search Bug - https://www.searchbug.com/help.aspx?WHAT=people
Spokeo - http://www.spokeo.com/opt_out/new
Truth Finder - https://www.truthfinder.com/opt-out/
US Identify - http://www.usidentify.com/company/privacy.html (See: Choice & Opt Out)
US Search - http://www.ussearch.com/privacylock
USA People Search - http://www.usa-people-search.com/manage/
Veromi - http://www.veromi.net/Help#26
White Pages - http://www.whitepages.com/suppression_requests
Whitepages Plus - https://whitepages.plus/remove
WP Numbers - http://wpnumbers.com/ (Click "Remove my information")
ZabaSearch - http://www.zabasearch.com/block_records/  

When opting-out of these databases, never provide them with more of your personal information than they already know. If they list your street address, don’t provide them your PO Box; and if they have an old telephone number listed, don’t provide your current number. If they require e-mail verification before removing your information from their databases, use a disposable e-mail address - never provide your personal / private e-mail. 

The above list is by no means exhaustive. There are other data brokers that have your information and may display that information on-line. So, why take the time to opt-out of these data brokers? The idea is to increase the effort that it takes for someone to find your personal information. The more databases from which you are able to remove your personal information, the more difficult it becomes for an adversary to obtain information about you.