If you’ve ever tried to remove private details about yourself online, then it quickly became apparent that there’s many obstacles blocking your path to true online privacy. The average consumer is completely unaware of the countless ways their private information is being used and shared. The people pulling the strings behind the scenes are known as data brokers, and they have a good reason to keep your information public — it makes them money. As such, they have no motive to remove your private information from their websites. We gathered a few examples of how data brokers and people-search sites can make it difficult for you to remove your private information. You can read the full article here: https://blog.onerep.com/why-its-difficult-to-remove-private-information-about-yourself-from-the-internet/

1. 16 reasons why it’s difficult to
remove private information by
yourself

2. The average consumer is completely unaware of the
countless ways their private information is being
used and shared.

3. The people pulling the
strings behind the
scenes are known as
data brokers. The
reason for that is profit.

4. As such, they have no
motive to remove your
private information
from their websites.

5. 1. Too many removal rules

6. Every website has its
own set of rules for
removing private
information from their
database. Data brokers
makes you play their
own game.
MY GAME
MY RULES

7. You will have to:
● fill out dozens of removal
forms;
● confirm the removal by
phone;
● send request for removal
via mail/fax;
● send a copy of ID/driver’s
license;
● wait up to 4 weeks until the
removal will be completed.
MY GAME
MY RULES

8. 2. Lots of different
opt-out forms

9. Some sites
intentionally
complicate the
process with
needlessly lengthy
forms and countless
questions.

10. 3. The problem with
removing duplicate profiles

11. Sometimes data brokers place several identical profiles
with a slightly difference. Data brokers set removal limits
which makes impossible to get the job done in one sitting.

12. You have to come back to the site tomorrow and submit the
request, of course if you don’t forget.

13. 4. Multiple Email
Confirmations

14. Most websites will ask you
to confirm your contact
information via the
following methods:
● Email confirmation,
assuming it doesn’t go to
his spam folder.
● SMS text message
confirmation with a link
and code.
● Phone confirmation, where
you are asked to input a
specific code.

15. Prepare to be
bombarded with
multiple email
confirmations.

16. 5. Snail Mail and Fax

17. Submitting online
forms, confirming
emails, and other
countless confirmation
methods may not be
enough. Many sites will
require to confirm his
identity via fax and
snail mail too.

18. As a result, the removal
process takes weeks.

19. 6. Paid Removals

20. Many websites will only accept
removal requests for a fee:
● 411.info (from $4.95);
● 4addresses.net (from $5.99);
● zattadata.com (from $5.99);
● 4privacy.org (from $11.99);
● Profilogical.com ($39.95);
● Mugshotsearch.net ($100.00).

21. Would you want to play
by those rules with the
deck stacked against you?

22. 7. No Removal Option
Provided

23. Reasons why you won’t be
able to opt out :
● Websites provide no way to
contact them.
● No opt-out form is provided
anywhere on the site.
● The site is abandoned.
● The site admin ignores email
● The site doesn’t provide
opt-out option (Yes, they can
do this. No, they are not
required to delete your profile
upon request. Yes, it’s legal)

24. 8. The agony of suspense

25. Ok, so you’ve burned your entire weekend on
this, followed all the instructions, did everything
right, and submitted removal requests to
multiple websites. Now what?

26. Cross your fingers, then
sit back and wait.

27. Meanwhile, your private
information remains
publicly available online.
How long before it’s
removed? Will they ever
get around to it?

28. 9. Your records are finally
removed! …
But not from Google

29. Even if you’ve
removed your
records from data
broker websites, you
will still see the link
on Google.

30. It’s broken, however,
the little snippet
Google displays still
contains some
private information
that you don’t want
made public.

31. Google removes the
dead link in 10
business days. When
it comes to Yahoo, it
takes up to 8 weeks.

32. 10. Information is exposed on
countless websites

33. Statistically, you data
is placed on 25-30
people-search
websites.

34. 11. Confusing Redirects

35. When you want to remove your data from one
website but are redirected to another one. This
makes it difficult to understand where your
records are exactly located.

36. 12. Other People’s Profiles

37. Your private
information may be
listed on other
people’s profiles.
Data brokers make
link between you and
your relatives or
neighbors.

38. So you have to handle
not only your own
profiles, but also with
those that belong to
other people.

39. 13. Removed records are
often relisted

40. Personal profiles are often reappear. This could be
explained by the fact that data brokers refresh their
data bases quite often.

41. When you move to another city, have a new phone
number, change your job, data brokers react on these
changes proactively. As a result, you have to do the
removal over and over again.

42. 14. A false sense of security

43. Data brokers want people
to believe there’s
something special about
their search engine, the
algorithm indexing their
database, and the
comprehensiveness
behind the accuracy of
their searches.

44. However, it’s all smoke
and mirrors, and a cheap
manipulative tactic that
just wastes your time.

45. 15. Monitoring new sites

46. New people-search sites
appear all the time,
because there’s big
money in selling your
private information.

47. Continuous monitoring
of new websites will lead
to the loss of your free
time.

48. 16. Removal process is endless

49. The whole removal process is
very time consuming. You will
have to compile a list of all the
websites displaying your
private information,
familiarize yourself with their
opt out procedures and tools,
and finally, apply submit a
request for removal.

50. This presentation is based on the OneRep blog post
Why it's difficult to remove private information about
yourself from the Internet.
OneRep.com is the automated tool which scans the
Internet and removes unwanted personal records
compromising your safety and reputation.
Your privacy matters.