White Pages Removal – Remove Your Information from Spokeo Search, MyLife, People Finder

In today‘s digital age, protecting your personal information and privacy online is more important than ever. You may be surprised to learn that there is a massive industry of "data brokers" – companies that collect, aggregate, analyze and sell the personal data of millions of people.

Data brokers scrape together information from public records, social media profiles, online activities, and even purchase histories to compile detailed digital dossiers on nearly every U.S. citizen. They then sell this data to advertisers, businesses, individuals, and even the government – often without your knowledge or consent.

Some of the most prominent data brokers are people search sites like Spokeo, MyLife, PeopleFinder, Intelius, and WhitePages. On these sites, anyone can search for your name and access a disturbingly comprehensive profile with your:

• Age and date of birth
• Current and past addresses
• Phone numbers and email addresses
• Family members and associates
• Social media profiles and online photos
• Employment history and estimated income
• Criminal and court records
• And much more

This poses serious risks for privacy invasion, identity theft, stalking, harassment, and even discrimination.

The Disturbing Scope of the Data Broker Industry

The data broker industry is far more vast and complex than most people realize. According to a report by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, there are over 500 data brokers operating in the U.S. alone.[^1] The largest, like Acxiom and CoreLogic, have data on hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

[^1]: Dixon, Pam. "Data Brokers and the Federal Government: A New Front in the Battle for Privacy Opens." Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, 30 Aug. 2013, https://privacyrights.org/ar/DataBrokersPart2.htm.

Here are some eye-opening statistics that show the massive scale of this largely unregulated industry:

• Acxiom, one of the biggest data brokers, has 23,000 servers processing data on 500 million active consumers worldwide, with about 1,500 data points per person[^2]
• The data broker industry generates $200 billion in revenue per year[^3]
• An investigation by the FTC found data brokers hold billions of data points on nearly every U.S. consumer[^4]
• Over 39,000 data attributes per person are held by data brokers[^5]
• Identity theft, often enabled by data brokers, affected 33% of U.S. adults in 2018[^6]

[^2]: Singer, Natasha. "Mapping, and Sharing, the Consumer Genome." The New York Times, 16 June 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/technology/acxiom-the-quiet-giant-of-consumer-database-marketing.html.
[^3]: Fontana, John. "The Rise of the Data Broker Digital Marketing Industry." Nymity, 6 Oct. 2019, https://www.nymity.com/the-rise-of-data-broker-in-digital-marketing.aspx.
[^4]: "Data Brokers: A Call for Transparency and Accountability." Federal Trade Commission, May 2014, https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/data-brokers-call-transparency-accountability-report-federal-trade-commission-may-2014/140527databrokerreport.pdf.
[^5]: Miller, Carrie. "The Best Kept Secret about Identity Theft…Data-Brokers." HuffPost, 15 July 2016, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-best-kept-secret-abou_b_10991204.
[^6]: "Strengthening the Impact of Identity Theft Data Breaches on Consumers." Insurance Information Institute, Nov. 2020, https://www.iii.org/sites/default/files/docs/pdf/identity_theft_wp_111320.pdf.

How Data Brokers Collect Your Personal Information

As a full-stack developer, I know firsthand how easy it is for companies to collect personal data on users – often without their awareness. Data brokers employ a wide range of technical methods to gather info from online and offline sources, including:

• Web scraping: Crawling millions of public web pages to extract personal info like names, addresses, and social media profiles. Data brokers have sophisticated scraping tools that can bypass many website restrictions.

• Tracking cookies: Placing cookies on users‘ browsers to track them across websites and build a profile of their browsing history and inferred interests. Many websites share this data with third-party data brokers.

• Tracking pixels: Embedding invisible 1×1 pixel images in emails and webpages that log when and where a user opened them. This allows connecting online and offline identity and location.

• Application APIs: Accessing personal data shared by users with apps and social media platforms through their APIs. Developers may sell this data to brokers or allow access in exchange for services.

• Data fusion: Aggregating and combining data from multiple sources to build more complete individual profiles. Data brokers are able to infer very personal attributes like income, marital status, and political affiliation.

• Machine learning models: Analyzing massive datasets with AI/ML to uncover hidden patterns and make predictions about individuals. Data brokers use this to categorize people into sellable audience segments.

So just by browsing the web, using smartphone apps, making purchases, and living a normal 21st-century life, you are feeding dozens of data brokers with thousands of data points about yourself. And this data is then sold to the highest bidder for targeted advertising, background checks, fraud detection, government surveillance, and more.

Step-by-Step Guide to Remove Your Info from Data Broker Sites

Fortunately, many data brokers are now required by law to provide consumers with the ability to access their data and opt out of collection. However, the opt-out process is often intentionally difficult and time-consuming, requiring you to submit separate requests to each data broker.

Follow this step-by-step guide to remove your personal information from the most common people search sites:

Opt Out of Spokeo

1. Search for yourself on Spokeo.com and copy the URL of your profile
2. Go to Spokeo.com/optout and paste the URL
3. Enter your email address and complete the CAPTCHA verification
4. Check your email inbox and click the link to confirm your opt-out request

Remove Your Info from MyLife

1. Find your profile on MyLife.com
2. Send an email to [email protected] with the subject line "Opt Out Request"
3. In the email body, include your full name, age, current and past addresses, the link to your MyLife profile, and a clear request for your information to be removed from MyLife‘s database
4. MyLife should send you a confirmation email once your opt-out request has been processed

Opt Out of PeopleFinder and Intelius

1. Visit Intelius.com/optout
2. Search for your name and select your listing from the results
3. Enter the required information to verify your identity and confirm your opt-out request
4. This will also automatically remove your info from Intelius‘ related sites including PeopleFinder.com, Publicrecords.com, and Zabasearch.com

Remove Your Info from PeekYou

1. Find your profile on PeekYou.com and copy the unique ID number from the URL
2. Go to PeekYou.com/about/contact/optout and paste in your ID number
3. Enter your email address and complete the CAPTCHA verification
4. Click the confirmation link in the email you receive to complete your PeekYou opt-out

Delete Your WhitePages Listing

1. Locate your listing on WhitePages.com and copy the full URL
2. Visit WhitePages.com/suppression_requests and paste the URL
3. Enter your phone number and click "Call now to verify"
4. WhitePages will immediately call you with a 4-digit verification code
5. Enter the code on the opt-out page to complete your WhitePages info removal

Opt Out of BeenVerified

1. Go to BeenVerified.com/app/optout/search
2. Search for your name and select your listing from the results
3. Follow the step-by-step instructions to complete the removal, which will include a required email confirmation
4. Click the confirmation link you receive via email to complete the BeenVerified removal

For enhanced privacy during the opt-out process, be sure to use a VPN to mask your IP address, open the sites in incognito/private browser mode, and provide a disposable email address for any required email confirmations.

Unfortunately, many other data broker sites have inadequate or nonexistent opt-out processes. People search sites like PeopleSmart and PrivateEye use intentionally broken forms and links to prevent removals. Instant Checkmate‘s opt-out seems to be fake, as it never actually sends a promised confirmation email.

Stronger Privacy Laws Are Needed to Protect Consumers

While manually opting out of data brokers is a good first step, it‘s ultimately just a Band-Aid on a much larger privacy problem. The only long-term solution is robust federal data privacy legislation that gives consumers real rights over their personal information.

Currently, data brokers operate in a largely unregulated space, with no limits on what info they can collect or how they can use it. Only a patchwork of state laws provide consumers with a right to access, delete, or opt out of the sale of their data. And even those laws, like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), have many loopholes and exemptions that still leave data brokers free to exploit personal data.

We need comprehensive federal privacy legislation like the proposed Data Accountability and Transparency Act of 2020 to rein in data brokers.[^7] This bill would:

• Empower the FTC to establish data privacy rules and enforce violations
• Give consumers the right to access, correct, delete, and port their data
• Require data brokers to register with the FTC and provide clear opt-out processes
• Prohibit data brokers from engaging in deceptive and harmful data practices
• Create a new FTC Bureau of Data Protection to oversee data brokers

[^7]: Data Accountability and Transparency Act of 2020. H.R. 6675, 116th Cong., https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6675/text.

The data broker industry will undoubtedly lobby hard against any regulations that threaten their profits. But with growing bipartisan support and public outcry following massive data breaches like Equifax and Cambridge Analytica, the tide may finally be turning towards real privacy reform.

As developers and tech professionals, we have a responsibility to advocate for ethical data practices and empower users to take back control of their personal information. Here are some ways you can make a difference:

• Follow privacy by design principles and data minimization in your own projects
• Choose third-party APIs and SDKs that are transparent about data sharing
• Provide clear data usage disclosures and user-friendly opt-out processes
• Educate your colleagues and clients about data privacy risks and best practices
• Demand information from data brokers on what data they have about you
• Support non-profits and advocacy groups pushing for data privacy laws
• Call your representatives and encourage them to support federal privacy bills

In our data-driven world, privacy is becoming a precious commodity. But with awareness, technical controls, and strong regulations, we can build an internet that protects personal data as a fundamental human right. It‘s time to hold data brokers accountable and give power back to the people.