Proving once again that reddit is the best site ever.
A week ago, I–Sarah Downey, an attorney and privacy analyst at Abine–posted a reddit thread as LawyerCT on how to remove yourself from the background check site BeenVerified, as well as a few others. I was sick of people search websites making it hard for people to delete themselves, so I figured I’d share my tips and ask the reddit community to spread the word.
And spread the word they did. The user Pibbman added to what I had started to create a second thread, titled “HOW TO: Remove yourself from ALL background check websites. Thanks to LawyerCT.“ It made it to the front page of reddit, and since then it’s been popping up everywhere, including a LifeHacker article by Melanie Pinola. I’m thrilled to raise awareness of a major privacy issue, and I’m including the same info on our privacy blog at Abine to help the cause.
A little background on myself: I’m a DeleteMe expert here at Abine. I’m an attorney and a privacy advocate, and I spend a lot of time deleting people’s contact information from people search websites like MyLife, Intelius, and Spokeo.
As a result of doing all these opt-outs, I’ve become good at digging through long Terms of Use, privacy policies, and contact forms to find how to delete yourself. I’m convinced that many of these companies try to make it difficult to remove listings; after all, your data is their lifeblood.
But I think there’s something fundamentally wrong with these sites. They get your information through public record sources, like birth certificates, real estate purchase and sale records, lawsuits, and marriage licenses–for free–and then they stockpile it, post it for the world to see, and sell it. They argue that they’re simply reposting public record info that already exists for anyone to access, but I disagree. They’re doing something completely different: they’re making all of our contact info more visible and more accessible than ever before. It’s not public record anymore; it’s super public. There’s a big difference between A), physically walking down to a courthouse and asking for a copy of a legal filing so you can find someone’s name and address from it, and B), Googling it from your couch.
I hear from people with stalkers, a history of domestic abuse, a vindictive ex, or just a general interest in staying private. Having their contact information so readily available isn’t just annoying; it’s dangerous. Getting it removed shouldn’t be as confusing and time-consuming as it currently is.
Lawmakers need to recognize that the super-public nature of these people search sites has strayed too far from our original concept of “public record,” and everything needs to be opt-in by default. If these companies want to profit off the facts that makes us who we are–our names, ages, birth dates, addresses, and family members–we should have a say in that. And if we decide that it’s okay, we should see a cut of that profit. At the very least, these sites should have one uniform, simple, clearly-displayed opt-out method.
But until this happens, the burden is on us to play cat-and-mouse with these companies: we follow their convoluted rules and delete ourselves; they try to find us again. DeleteMe will do it for you if you want to save yourself the time, but if you’d rather do it yourself, see below for full instructions. Using privacy apps in your browser that prevent tracking, like DoNotTrackPlus, and masked emails, like MaskMe, will also help safeguard your information. And if keeping your contact information private is important to you, please keep spreading the word to anyone you care about.
In Part 2, I’ll discuss how these companies get your information in the first place, what you can do about it, and how you can better protect yourself.
And without further ado, here is Pibbman’s reddit post:
Thanks to LawyerCT for bringing this topic up on /r/technology. She also provided a list of the top sites online that hold data on you.
I decided to go ahead and use this list to collect removal procedures from ALL of these websites and provide direct links or instructions to do so.
The following list was provided as being the “big boys”, so if you remove your name from these ones then all the smaller “sites” should fall afterwards.
- Intelius.com
- Acxiom.com
- MyLife.com
- ZabaSearch.com
- Spoke.com
- BeenVerified.com
- PeekYou.com
- USSearch.com
- PeopleFinders.com
- PeopleLookup.com
- PeopleSmart.com
- PrivateEye.com
- WhitePages.com
- USA-People-Search.com
- Spokeo.com
- PublicRecordsNow.com
- DOBSearch.com
- Radaris.com
How to remove yourself from each of these have been listed below. I would recommend that you scan some form of ID such as a state issued ID like a drivers license. Black out your picture and drivers number. Leaving your name, address and DOB visible. Any sites that requires such a thing will have an * after the address.
Intelius.com* – Opt-out
Acxiom.com – Opt-out
MyLife.com – To request that a Member Profile or Public Profile be deleted, please contact Customer Care at 1-888-704-1900 or contact us by email at priv...@mylife.com. Upon receipt of these requests, and confirmation that you are requesting that your own profile be removed, please allow MyLife 10 business days to complete this removal. It may be necessary to contact you to validate that you are the profile owner requesting the removal. This is to ensure the correct identity and profile ownership before completing these requests, and is for the protection of our users and their privacy.
Zabasearch.com* – Opt-out
Spokeo.com – Opt-out
BeenVerified.com – LawyerCT’s guide
Peekyou.com – Opt-Out
USSearch.com* – Opt-Out
PeopleFinders.com – Opt-Out: Annoying form you have to mail in
PeopleLookup.com* – In order for PeopleLookup to suppress or opt out your personal information from appearing on our Website, we need to verify your identity. To do this, we require faxed proof of identity. Proof of identity can be a state issued ID card or driver’s license. If you are faxing a copy of your driver’s license, we require that you cross out the photo and the driver’s license number. We only need to see the name, address and date of birth. We will only use this information to process your opt out request. Please fax to 425-974-6194 and allow 4 to 6 weeks to process your request.
PeopleSmart.com – Opt-Out
PrivateEye.com – Opt-Out
Whitepages.com – Opt-Out
USA-People-Search.com – Opt-Out: Yet another form to mail in
Spoke.com – Scroll Down to Access and Correction Section for more info
PublicRecordsNow.com – Still determining how to remove…
DOBSearch.com* – In order for us to “opt out” your public information from being viewable on the public DOBsearch People Finder search results, we need to verify your identity and require faxed proof of identity. Proof of identity can be a state issued ID card or driver’s license, or notarized letter. If you are faxing a copy of your driver’s license, you may cross out the photo and the driver’s license number. We only need to see the name, address and date of birth. Please fax to 516-717-3017 and allow 4 to 6 weeks to completely process your request. It is your responsibility to ensure legibility of your document
Radaris.com – Opt-Out; Thanks to those who figured it out.
Sarah Downey,
One source which I wish you would have mentioned as far as opting out of is integrascan.com. I have been able to opt out of almost every database with the exception of a few sites such as integrascan.com, lexisnexis.com (and its other sister sites such as KnowX and Accurint), and a1peoplesearch.com. Could you please write a follow-up or another post about how to opt-out of these websites? I haven’t found a service that can opt-out of them.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll certainly look into it and add it to the page we made listing opt-out procedures. In the meantime, you’d probably appreciate this article by Violet Blue. She goes into detail about how hard it is to remove yourself from LexisNexis on page 2.
@Sarah Downey,–Essentially you can’t get out of Lexis Nexus–it’s a Corp to Corp product (your average Joe can’t sign up for it and access Data). Banks for example use it to verify you.
AND BOY is is scary what they know. One of my accounts was shut down as they thought there was fraud activity going on (good for them). However, had to go in, show 2-forms of “Government ID” (DL/Passport)–*THEN* the fun started.
The guy said, please bear with me, I have to ask you a series of challenge/response questions you have to pass, to get this turned back on to further verify yourself. I mean he asked some *WILD* WTH…..questions.
Asked ii I had Siblings, if so, their names. –Gave them
Are any siblings married? (brother was divorced)–Said well, the only is divorced now–Can me give me her name? Do you her approximate date of birth? What’s the highest level of Education your brother has obtained. What is the Highest level of Education you have obtained.
Your Father, is he Divorced or Married. (well, had a mother pass away, he remarried, do you mean her? What is her name (with Maiden name). Approx how long have they been married. Where do they live.
you name it, they had it. “eh, I rolled with the punches cause they were doing the right thing (locked my account)—but was flabbergasted —how much they knew.
I have yet to read the article, however I *HIGHLY* doubt, she was pulled out of lexisnexis–essentially lexisnexis is to Humans what Dunn and Bradstreet is to Companies….
I have my Masters Degree in Information Security–so I know whence I speak.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-
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Do not use Opt Out requests on these sites. (read some of the articles—when the FTC “Fines” them it’s usually $100,000 some small amount for a corporation. It’s laughable—so they’ consider it a “cost of doing business to have to pay these fines.
When you do try to opt out, you are simply VERIFYING—information they know and/or don’t fully know on you.
ALSO. Please please
1st-Do not use any 3rd party technology site that promises to remove for you. Let’s run with the assumption they are Legit, and mean well. Many are start ups. You never know who will eventually get a hold of your information. Should they go out of business (ie. Your Data–is valuable information that a judge might consider an ‘Asset” to sell to settle with creditors. .
2nd-When you go to the sites that supposedly claim they know of you, it’s nothing that can’t already be found in Public (FREE/Nearly free ) Government Database searches. (where else would they get the information)
3rd. Many of those sites have very “dirty” data to begin with. Example, most only have me listed back to addresses that are from 2000-ish. (Yes, this includes the “Granddaddy Lists”–Further Proof. I had a girl—friend pass away in a Traffic accident about 2005 (28-years old). *HOWEVER* Many MANY of the sites, continue to list her name—*AND*–continue to update her age. (ie–born in 1977, today 2012–showing up as 35-years old).–she passed at 29).
I’m 100000% positive it’s her, because of the “Possible Relatives” are indeed correct–Dad/Brother/Sister/etc. It’s associating her with.
As for Social Security Number Usages.
************************************
–ABSOLUTELY MOST IMPORTANT!!! THE ONLY, THE ONLY–Entity allowed to “require” a Social Security Number is a Banking Institution (and employer of course)–This is due to IRS reporting issues.
Companies *ARE NOT REQUIRED* to force you to give over a Social Security # to use their services. HOWEVER—NOT giving a Social. Companies CAN require you provide a deposit without a Social.
MOST are reasonable. Comcast it’s like $60 (they then apply to first month’s bill). Power Company like $150–your 12th month bill.
—FYI Some states have laws against having to provide and having to pay extra, deposit.check your state. .
Do not EVER give out your Social Number. By the way, you might run into the “Mouth breather” type front line agent insisting you must provide. Simply ask to speak to a Manager. Google it–against the law to REQUIRE a SSN for anything but Banking/IRS related issues.
Social Security Number is the absolute EASIEST number to track because it’s completely unique to you.
Once huge Caveat–Cell Phone Providers will try to BEND YOU OVER—last i heard, AT&T required a $1000 yes (one thousand dollar) deposit.
In situations like that, go to MetroPCS. When I first started using them, would not recco them, now, they are much better, have great coverage AND offer “good” to “Great” selection of Android Phones. (the $79 to $399–Galaxy III)—yeah, The AT&T’s just load that phone cost into your monthly bill. (Rip Off cell phone companies do that as it’s extremely easy to run up a $400-$500 bill, want to make sure they get paid.
4th–This includes Social Security Number based “warehouse’ sites that claim to offer Millions in Insurance/Assurance. Should your SSN# be fraudulently be used.
By using those sites, you are providing your SSN# to one central warehouse–where should hackers try to penetrate, I’m sure they’ll go after that vs a Credit Bureau. Credit Bureau’s have been in the business (back Decades–of protecting your Data)
THE BEST solution, is to go to one of the major Credit Bureaus, put an “Email Alert” on your report. AS SOON AS-a credit account is attempted to be opened in your name, you’ll receive an email.
5th-For those with reason to be paranoid (perfect credit–so safe to assume someone could get something in your name)–Simply put a Security Alert stating you’ve been a victim of attempted fraud and DO NOT EVER open a credit account without verifying with you. (can put phone number in there, etc.)—Most “scammers will go to a Major Retailer try to open a CC in the Major Retailer Name and go on a shopping spree. .
6th-The Major Credit Bureaus allow you to “LOCK DOWN” your account in addition to the above. Trying to get a credit pulled once.
Once, I forgot to unlock it. Could not get my account. Had to go home, unlock it (Even told it the time line to keep unlocked)–lest I forgot to lock back.
Private Data Advice.
*******************
As for Protecting your private data (Name/Address/etc/).
1st–Get a Google Voice Number. Use it for sites that require Phone Numbers (also using a fake name and a “dead” email address). (most sites I’ve seen lately have gotten wise to the 555-555-5555 solution, etc.).
2nd–Consider the Google Voice “spoiled” after 6-ish months Create a new Gmail/sign up for new number (doesn’t even match your city)–use that until it’s spoils.
Also, consider the email “spoiled” after about 6-12 months. REMEMBER—You have a”MAIN”–you *ONLY* share with friends. Do not *EVER* use on a site. In Gmail, you can have all messages forward to another. So even if using the Fake, it forwards to your “real”
2a–And dear *GOD*–NEVER use the same Password for all your sites….or same as your email.
A GREAT WAY–to come up with *UNIQUE*–Passwords for sites, is to create a mnemonic (consisted to you–but will never make sense to a Hacker).
For example the mnemonic : Abine is the Best Site I use for Security
Take the first letter of each word, then add Numbers to both ends of the word.
Say the last 4-digits of your home phone is 1234 (plain Text–at first–Shift key held 2nd).
1234AitBSIufs!@#$
That password is about as secure as a “Lay Person” can some up with and should use.
So long as you are consistent with your mnemonic , should not be hard to remember.
Another Example: Amazon is the Best Site I use for Shopping
1234AitBSIufS!@#$
–also take note “Best Site I”–was not accidently capitalized—many sites require a Letter, Number, Special Character and a Capital Letter.
That should be good enouh.
–Should go without saying, however never use the same USERNAME on multiple sites–dear DO NOT EVER use same PW’s…
3rd–NEVER use your real name on a site unless necessary. You know, Pizza Delivery needs to know my Real name/address to get me food…soooooo.
==Sign up for a Gaming Site, whatever, Just fake it.
4th My State (I’m assuming many more)—allow me to have my “Home Address” on my Drivers License as my PO Box. (yes, get one for all your mail forwarded to it–not your residence). –thus Databases if they “DO TRACK”–theoretically can only do so to the PO Box.
I’d suggest EVERYONE-(at the very least, for women, EX:if you have to leave a DL with Bar Tender for you Tab, won’t have to worry about a creepy stalker dude knowing where you live.
Finally,sites that require Credit Card/Address to sign up. Use a Prepaid Visa/Mastercard. –CAVEAT—you will have to register the card online, to allow to purchase online (needs the Zip Verification). Again, fake info. They don’t (least with me)–send anything in the mail to “verify” that I Have to send back.For security reasons, simply need that Zip to make sure it’s “you” using the card. (byk typing in Zipcode).
The reason is, most of those sites, when you cancel, will do so after charging you a month of service (ie. .you cancel on the 8th day–sorry charlie–have to charge you the cycle).
Those that do the $1-charge, make sure it’s real. When you use the Via/Mastercard prepaid loaded card. Have handy with about $5/loaded on it–so can’t charge you a full fee anyway).
*****************************
Summation–to prove how well this works. I just went to one of the most popular “FREE” based websearch (the “Z” site). They don’t know me/show me. Was there with an old old address at one time, looks like I’ve dropped off.
THAT is how you solve it. Staying underground. Using Fake info (when Necessary)
Please please please DO NOT–try the “OPT OUT* Functions or DEAR GOD–the 3rd pary people to get you off those sites (again, don’t doubt the 3rd party has any Nefarious means–it’s simply another Data base you’re allowing ALL your real info to be held in.
*****************************
Finally real world example. YEARS ago. Had a girl-friend. If she was not interested in a guy, she would say her came was “Claire”. So my signal, if I came by was her mouthing “Claire”–thus I’d know to stick around. Same concept. She didn’t want a stranger (especially a stranger she didn’t want to get to know)_–Her real name (even though it’s the most common of common names… Jennifer).
PEACE!!!
I would like to know how I can get our house out of the Zillow listing. Since mid this year our Zillow listings have gone extremely down. More than any neighbors. Since July last month when Zillow supposedly changed their algorithms, our house became the cheapest on the block.
My neighbor has been trying to sell his house for more than half a year. Maybe the Zillow rating of abt. 200K less is scaring buyers. Even though Zillow claims that it is not a guideline for potential buyers, why then do they publish ratings at all. I several times inquired how I can remove my house from the listing and did not get any satisfying response. The only thing I was able to do was remove some of the description data, but I want the Zestimate out.
Do you know how to do that?
In short, there’s not usually anything you can do. What you’re seeing on BlockShopper, Zillow, and City-Data are so-called “public record” listings: they’re derived from real estate purchases or sales, and there’s no legal basis for blocking them unless one of the limited exceptions below applies to you. They fall into the same legal category as birth certificates, marriage licenses, lawsuits, business filings, and other records that the law deems “public.”
These sites make exceptions only for “certain government officials, law enforcement and public safety workers, individuals under court protection orders, or individuals with officially documented stalkers or other threats.”
There’s been a lot of controversy with people wanting their information removed and sites like these refusing. It frustrates people and it seems like a major invasion of privacy. You can read more about this on BlockShopper’s FAQ page: http://www.blockshopper.com/faq.html#q4
Just found this site, love it so far, thank you.
However, I found a “privacy bug” on your own site! Depending on your viewpoint, it could be considered relatively minor, but if anyone understands the problem, you will.
Pick a page, for example, your Taco 4.0 page. View Source. Search for “https” and you’ll find this:
By including this file directly from google’s server, rather than your own, you are unintentionally (I hope!) giving google information about everyone who visits your site. Not good.
The fix, of course, is very simple: just grab the javascript code by entering the .js URL in your browser and then save the resulting text to a file on your own computer. Upload that to your own server and change the google URL to a simple, local reference and you’re done. At that point you won’t need to use https://, simply http://
I hope this was helpful. -r
Sorry, the URL got clipped from the previous post, I’ll try again:
src=”https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js”
In case this doesn’t make it through again, it’s the ajax.googleapis.com jquery reference.
DOBSearch.com says “Please fax to 516-717-3017 and allow 4 to 6 weeks…”. I tried to fax the request with a copy of my ID and the number is no good. The message from the phone service said, “The number you have dialed, 516-717-3017, has not yet been assigned.”
Also I worry about the stipulation that the document’s lack of legibility is not their problem. My ID is a little worn. You can read it if you’re viewing the real thing, but I can see how someone getting a faxed version of it could easily claim (whether it’s true or not): “It was not legible”. I just don’t trust these people at all, and it bugs me to even have to give them any information just to get them to stop disseminating my information.
Here’s the problem: they actually updated their number since you checked. It’s 516-717-3012 now. These companies are so unbelievably shady; they change addresses and phone numbers all the time, but we stay on top of them
Give that number a try.
Can someone please tell me how to opt out when the fax number doesn’t work? DOBSearch and LookupAnyone both require to you to fax them your drivers license. However, when their fax machine fails to actually accept your fax, then what?
(516) 717-3012 does not work either.
This is great information. I am going to give these a try as my information seems to be everywhere!
RE: Dobsearch.com
dobsearch.com has updated their privacy policy as of 12/6/11 and now do not allow opt outs.
I think that these outfits are lowest of the low and need to be stopped.
This seems like a perfect opportunity for us to expose them and draw attention to their complete lack of care of privacy. It may also make you feel better to learn that the FTC is currently cracking down on data brokers, by the way: http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/ftc-official-calls-on-data-brokers-to-provide-more-info-20120126
I have faxed numerous times to DOBsearch.com requesting to opt out my name along with copy of my driver’s license. My first request was sent 1/6/2012 and they still have not complied to my request. I even sent them an email and they responded with a generated email that states do not reply but part of their generated email does state they will opt you out and tells you how to do it. However, they haven’t opt me out yet. Does anyone have a telephone number for DOB search so I can call them to find out why they haven’t complied to my request. Jim’s email above states their privacy policy as of 12/6/11 states they won’t but their email they sent me states yes and I received this email in February 2012. Here is the generated email DOB search sent me.
This a courtesy we can ‘opt out’ your specific information from the public DOBsearch People Finder search results. What this means is that your name, and the associated identifying information such as your address and phone number, will be suppressed from appearing in our public People Finder search results, if you request this in the manner described below. However, please note that any time your identifying information appears or reappears in a public record in a manner which is different from the record you opted out, it may again appear in our system. (For example, if your address or area code changes, or your name changes due to marriage, divorce, or other reason, your new information may again appear unless and until you opt out the new record.) There also are numerous other public records search services which are not affiliated with us, and your request that we opt out your information will not prevent your information from appearing on these other services.
In order for us to “opt out” your public information from being viewable on the public DOBsearch People Finder search results, we need to verify your identity and require faxed proof of identity. Proof of identity can be a state issued ID card or driver’s license, or notarized letter. If you are faxing a copy of your driver’s license, you may cross out the photo and the driver’s license number. We only need to see the name, address and date of birth. Please fax to 516-717-3012 and allow 4 to 6 weeks to completely process your request.
Each individual that wishes to be opted out must be accompanied by proof of identity and address. We will only process opt out requests we receive by fax and no request will be processed without complete information. Requests for opt out will not be processed over the phone or via email.
NOTE: This is a computer generated message. Do not respond to this e-mail.
They make it hard to find out who they are, don’t they? I did some work on this, and here’s what I found: orders made to DOBSearch.com are billed to Concert Technologies, Inc. That company was founded by Dennis Mazaris, and their phone number is listed as (304) 724-2113. They’re based out of Charles Town, WV; they were incorporated in 2005. Here’s their website: http://www.concerttechnologies.net/services.php
Hope this helps!
I went to that website and sent them a removal request via the contact form, letting them know that both of these fax numbers no longer work.
I then found this on DOBSearch.com’s FAQ:
Q: Is it possible to have my information changed or removed from the database?
A:
Records are gathered from diverse sources, including governmental public records and other publicly available information sources that do not have provisions for “opting out”, altering, suppressing or removing records. Our services are designed to reflect the underlying public records as accurately and completely as possible, and are not designed, intended, or permitted to be used unlawfully or for unsolicited marketing purposes. We cannot add, change, remove, suppress, redact, or otherwise alter any public records. Please note that it is not uncommon for some public records to contain errors. If a governmental or public record pertaining to you contains errors, you should contact the custodian of records of the appropriate agency with jurisdictional authority for assistance in correcting the error.
If you have a compelling security or privacy issue, you may wish to contact the official custodians of the public records in your jurisdiction (often in your county clerk’s office), to determine how to remove your information from the public record. Typically you will need to get a court order to have public records sealed, and that will ensure that the information will not be made available to the public, to us, or to any other public records information provider. To contact us and obtain more information regarding your concerns, please submit your message via our contact form with valid contact information.
http://www.dobsearch.com/faq.php
So I went to their contact form:
http://www.dobsearch.com/contact.php?nature=remove
And send them the same request.
I received an e-mail back from them with the content of the FAQ above in the body of the e-mail. So they may not even be reading these removal requests.
I then sent it again to “Other Technical Support” rather than “Removal Request” to see if maybe a live person might read it.
I attempted to send it again to “Suggestion or Comments” but it then said I made too many requests.
Sarah,
You inaccurately list Dennis Mazaris as the owner of the dobsearch website. The company he owns, Concert Technologies, is not the same Concert Technologies listed on the dobsearch website. In fact, there are many companies with the name, “Concert Technologies.” You must have simply googled Concert Technologies, found us, and inaccurately assumed that we were the same Concert Technologies that owns dobsearch.com. I am asking you to delete all references to Dennis Mazaris, our company, office locations, and our phone number.
Thank you
I removed my information from whitepages.com a few years ago (probably 3 years ago). Now my information is back on their website. How is that legal? Do they actually expect me to repeatedly remove my information?
Sigh. Unfortunately, it is. That’s why our DeleteMe service is a subscription: keeping your information off these sites is an ongoing, continuous process. Sometimes they refresh their sources of data and put it back up. Other times they get entirely new sources of data. Sometimes it’s something that you may have leaked out yourself, whether you’re aware of it or not. All the more reason to guard your information and don’t give it out unless you absolutely have to.
For the last several weeks, I have been unable to get on dob search website to see if they have opt out my information. In using my computer, it will state that their website is not responding. Then when I use other computers and type my name – it will take several minutes for the research and finally it will state no connection and then when I retry to get on their website – it won’t let me. I sent them a fax last Friday telling them about this problem and to fix whatever they have done but as of this date, correction has not been done. I just want to know if my info is opt out and I think that I am entitle to check on their website to do so without having this problem. Anyone out there having the same problem. It sounds like they have me blocked but I don’t know why they would do that because all I was requesting them on numerous occasions was to opt out my name and info. This website is surely not consumer/website friendly nor responsive on opt out request. I feel that this website needs to be investigated since I sent all the info that was required to opt out – copy of my drivers license blacking out my photo and license number per their instructions. Since they are so unresponsive on opt out request, it makes you wonder what other customers are dealing with.
You’re not the first person to bring up that site. Here’s what I found out for the other commenter: “They make it hard to find out who they are, don’t they? I did some work on this, and here’s what I found: orders made to DOBSearch.com are billed to Concert Technologies, Inc. That company was founded by Dennis Mazaris, and their phone number is listed as (304) 724-2113. They’re based out of Charles Town, WV; they were incorporated in 2005. Here’s their website: http://www.concerttechnologies.net/services.php”
You can also go to our advocacy page all about people search websites and click the “where do I complain” link on the lefthand side. That will tell you all the places to go, like the FTC and the BBB. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) recently launched an online privacy complaint tool that you can check out, too: https://www.cdt.org/takebackyourprivacy/complainttool
Hope this helps!
I too have tried countless times to opt-out from DOBSeach.com and have been unsuccessful as others have stated. Is there any new information you have that will enable us to do so? If so, as you can see, many of us will be extremely grateful.
They seem to love playing smoke and mirrors. They never answer when you submit a message.
Please advise.
Thank you!
In the information listed on their site they state:
Records are gathered from diverse sources, including governmental public records and other publicly available information sources that do not have provisions for “opting out”, altering, suppressing or removing records. Our services are designed to reflect the underlying public records as accurately and completely as possible, and are not designed, intended, or permitted to be used unlawfully or for unsolicited marketing purposes. We cannot add, change, remove, suppress, redact, or otherwise alter any public records. Please note that it is not uncommon for some public records to contain errors. If a governmental or public record pertaining to you contains errors, you should contact the custodian of records of the appropriate agency with jurisdictional authority for assistance in correcting the error.
If you have a compelling security or privacy issue, you may wish to contact the official custodians of the public records in your jurisdiction (often in your county clerk’s office), to determine how to remove your information from the public record. Typically you will need to get a court order to have public records sealed, and that will ensure that the information will not be made available to the public, to us, or to any other public records information provider. To contact us and obtain more information regarding your concerns, please submit your message via our contact form with valid contact information.
That is a fax number now. Out of the websites that claim the ability to opt-out..DOBseaerch is by far the worst. Climbing Mt Everest seems to be less of a task than getting removed from their database.
I thought that this post was interesting, and I hope that soon more will be done about folks like DOBsearch and others who refuse to allow people to opt out of revealing and selling people’s information. There ought to be a law!
The Federal Trade Commission is putting pressure on people search websites because they’ve been found to sell personal info for illegal purposes, like hiring and housing background checks. It may never be fully illegal, but at least there’s movement towards a simple, one-stop removal method and greater punishment for websites who don’t comply.
How about a class action lawsuit demanding % of profits these parasites are making and have made off our info?
My info got on blockshopper after the clowns from the county, decided to make the data available via the net w/o any restrictions, decision they since revised (somewhat), but …. the charlatans got to it first so now there it is.
How do the “stars” keep their info private (other than using corporations and such)?
As a side comment, another scam is the phone company charging for keeping phone #s private. I see absolutely no difference between that practice and black-mail. If I were to tell someone whom i dealt with “it will cost you $25/year to keep your phone # private”, I’d land in the slammer for extorsion/black-mail, yet, these lowlifes get away with it.
Thanks for the info provided.
The Opt-out removal process is not working. Anyone have luck getting their records removed from Radaris.com?
Thanks
court-record-report.com asks people to pay them to have their information removed. When you go to their site you see this message:
Remove Court Record 550015 from the Court-Record-Report.com website within 24 hours of payment clearing. See our Terms for our return policy and conditions.
Remove from Website – $29.99
Remove from Website & Google – $49.99
So they’re charging you an extra $20 to remove from Google, which is something that A), would happen naturally by itself; and B), you can do yourself for free. Pretty scammy.
I can find no opt out information for backgroundfiner.com
pub360.com has a procedure for removing information off their website, but when it’s attempted it gives an error while generating email message. I’ve tried it on multiple computers with multiple different browsers. I’ve contacted their customer support via cust...@pub360.com twice via email with no response.
Many sites like reunion.com, ussearch.com, radaris.com, and fullnamedirectory.com which looks to be connected with DOBSearch.com, list me as a relative of someone else. When contacted to have my name removed, they inevitably tell me that for that to happen, the original person has to request their information to be removed.
Petitionspot.com otherwise known as the Bureau of Petitions has an old signature by me that they won’t remove because I can’t remember the password for my account. I’ve emailed them multiple times with no response.
Two questions:
Is there a part 2 to this blog post?
Is there an active online discussion forum where folks go to discuss online privacy?
Yes, the “we can’t remove a record that isn’t yours, even if it lists you as a family member” response is very common. We see that all the time with DeleteMe.
To answer your questions:
1. There didn’t end up being a part 2 because we built this do-it-yourself opt-out instructions page, which we’ve kept pretty up to date: http://www.abine.com/optouts.php
2. One of the best places to discuss online privacy and find breaking news is Reddit, which is a massive online community broken into smaller communities, called sub-reddits. I’d recommend both the cyberlaws and privacy sub-reddits.
I found this page for DOBSearch.com which appears to be affiliated with FullNameDirectory.com at least in terms of the search engine they use, which they’re calling People Finder?
At any rate, here is the page I found:
https://www.dobsearch.com/people-finder/pf_manage_help.php
It does however say that this is for “blocking” the information, which I’m guessing is totally different from deleting the information.
It looks great until you get to the form where they insist on your email address and a telephone number for verification purposes. It made me think twice, so I checked out their privacy policy and here’s what I found:
Information That You Voluntarily Provide
We do not collect personally-identifiable information unless you choose to provide it to us. If you choose to provide us with personally identifiable information, for example, by sending an e-mail or by filling out a form and submitting it through our web site, you are indicating an implied and perpetual irrevocable consent to our use of that information.
All messages and form data submitted should not be considered private, confidential, nor secure. All submissions become our property and we reserve the right to copy, forward, retransmit, or disseminate any information and communication we receive from you with our staff, attorneys, law enforcement, in response to legal process, or any other persons for any other reasons at our own discretion and without notice. Submitting voluntary information constitutes your consent to our use of the information submitted. When a user clicks the “Submit” button on any of the Web forms found on our site they are indicating voluntary consent to our use of the information they submit.
Very shady…
Oops, above post was in reply to J’s link at:
https://www.dobsearch.com/people-finder/pf_manage_help.php
Here’s another list I found:
http://unlistmy.info/sites
Here’s another one:
https://www.privacyrights.org/online-information-brokers-list
I am going crazy removing my personal info from Radrais. I have emailed their customer support 3 times and no response. . Could someone help please? There is no opt-out button either!
Apparently Radaris took down their privacy policy and their opt-out capability recently, so everyone’s been having the same problem with Radaris. Unfortunately there’s not a lot you can do, besides complaining about Radaris to the Federal Trade Commission or your state’s Attorney General’s office, or publicly complaining on social media sites or review sites. US law is the underlying problem here: it’s legal for these sites to repost public record info and they don’t have to offer any removal option. The state of the law needs to change.
They used to respond to the prof...@radaris.com address, not sure if they do anymore.
oh it doesn’t let you put an email okay…
police-removal at radaris dot com
Has anyone been able to remove their info from pub360.com?
It keeps saying error while generating email when I use their form.
I emailed them separately and received nothing.
What do we do in situations like this?
I looked pub360 up on BBB and they say that it appears pub360 is out of business. they list a phone number on BBB but I’ve not tried calling it yet.
I’m having a real stubborn time getting my information removed from petitionspot.com, also known as Bureau of petitions. I discovered that the site is now owned by Change.org. I sent Change.org an e-mail to the owner of the site, got a response back saying they were forwarding my message to a support email address at Change.org. I never received a response.
My question to you is, would your services work with Change.org to remove my information from the website they now own, petitionspot.com?
If not, what would your suggestions be?
I’m really having a bear with census-online.us and census-info.us too. I basically received a response from them telling me that they’re within their rights to publish my name, and to take a hike. Would your service offer help with removing information from those sites as well?
Also, I think everyone here is familiar with Google’s URL removal tool. Is there a listing somewhere for URL removal tools for other search engines as well, say the most popular 20 or so?
Also, I thought this article was interesting:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/ftc-warns-data-brokers-on-privacy-rules/2013/05/07/2e152c16-b748-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html?utm_content=buffera2d8e&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer
peopleaz.org is giving me a rough time too. Any help with them?
Use this link to file a complaint against Radaris.com they’re one of the worst people search sites to be removed from. Even when you use their so called removal option on their site it doesn’t work, your information is still made available. I was actually told by a rep from Radaris that they couldn’t remove my personal information because they obtained it through other websites and public records. http://odrcomplaint.bbb.org/odrweb/public/NewComplaintForm.aspx?Qualified=y&BBBID=3&BusinessID=119946
I want to know why these places need proof of your identity before they honor the request to remove your PRIVATE information.. BUT they don’t ask for any proof of ID from the person purchasing your information. Nor do they ask for a signed written permission from the person who’s information the purchaser is buying.
SCUM BAGS OF THE EARTH.
Yeah, it’s backwards.
Has anyone had any experience with court-record-management.com? I understand court records are public but I recently had a minor legal issue that I would prefer remain private (as private as it can be) yet this site lists it as the #1 google response to my name…and to make matters worse they want to SELL it back to me, promising removal for $50. This doesnt sound legal… public information is one thing but profiting from selling someones privacy back to them?? Little help here??
It’s an exploitative business model, and I’ve seen it pop up more and more lately. Mugshot removal sites are just one example of it. Unfortunately, it’s legal for them to do it. One thing to consider is that paying the $50 doesn’t necessarily prevent the same records from showing up on other sites after it’s removed. Sometimes the removal sites are also the ones that post it, which is really backwards.