You are never alone when you are online. Every website you visit and every app or service you use has the potential to collect data about you. Your online profile grows day by day from the ads you click to your search history.
Data brokers collect this information and put it online. You will usually find this data available through people search sites. Tap or click here to see our mega roundup of creepy people search sites and how to opt out of each one.
For this week’s entry in our Opt-Out Tuesday series, we’ll show you how to remove yourself from search engines.
Avoid people search sites at all costs, especially if it costs you
Never pay for any people search service. Most of these sites are fraudulent in nature. You may think you’re paying for a report and discover you’ve been tied up with recurring charges.
Also, don’t pay to remove your information from any site. This process should be provided free of charge.
When trying to delete your data, be careful which links you click. These are usually ads that take you to another site asking for payment. We will provide you with precise links to remove yourself from these sites with each Opt-out Tuesday report.
Do you have older relatives who may not know about these sites? If you opt out, why not do the same for them? Simply type in your information as you would your own and follow our steps to completion.
RELATED: Data-hungry apps: These are the worst for your privacy
First Birds of Data Collection
Search Systems has been providing personal information online since 1996. It’s obtained through data brokers and public records, so there’s nothing illegal about it. In fact, you can find that information yourself. People search sites just make it easier for you.
“We have personally located, analyzed, described, and organized links to over 70,000 databases by type and location to help you find property, criminal, court, birth, death, marriage, divorce, license, deed, mortgage, corporate, company registration and many other public records resources quickly, easily and free”, boasts the website. ugh.
How to exit the System
As with many people search sites, you must search for your information before opting out. This is a longer process than usual and requires a bit of patience.
Here’s how to opt out of search engines:
- Enter your first name, last name, and state in the fields provided.
- Read the fine print about not using the information you find for nefarious purposes and tap I agree.
- Find your information in the search results and click on the link.
- Copy the link to the URL.
- Now go to publicrecords.searchsystems.net/opt-out.php or tap delete my records at the bottom of the Search Systems home page.
- Enter your name and email address and paste the link to the information you copied earlier.
- Under Reason for withdrawaltell the simple truth. You do not want your personal information to be made available through this site.
- Enter the code to prove that you are not a robot and select Send request.
- Watch for a confirmation email.
- Please allow a couple of weeks for your information to be deleted.
If you need to contact Search Systems, go to publicrecords.searchsystems.net/contact.php.
Search Systems, like many other people search sites, has some connection to Been Verified. If you want to ensure that your information is removed from one, we recommend that you remove it from the other.
Here’s how to opt out of being verified:
- Go to beenverified.com/app/optout/search.
- Enter your first and last name and select your state from the dropdown menu. Then hit the Search button.
- Select the correct match from the search results and click Proceed to opt-out.
- Fill in your email address and click send an email verification.
- Open the email and click the link inside. This will take you to a confirmation page.
Expect several days or weeks to pass before your information disappears. For customer support, write to [email protected].
For more detailed instructions on You’ve Been Verified, tap or click here.
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