First, there isn’t a way to make yourself completely disappear, as what goes online, stays online. But you can clean up what is online about you to some extent.

This will be a multi-part post starting with people searching websites

Spokeo
Spokeo is a people search website that aggregates data from online and offline sources. Spokeo and similar services have been criticized because of the danger caused by listing the personal information and physical addresses of unwitting people openly online, and for profiting off the exploitation of personal data.

I love how when you are searching for your data, the cross-hairs on the maps move around as though it is searching for you, how cute.

1. Visit https://www.spokeo.com/
2. Find your profile
3. Click the See Results button
4. Visit https://www.spokeo.com/optout
5. Use the URL from Step 3 to help fill out the form
6. Submit a request (use a disposable email address)
7. Follow the instructions in the email

My data was removed within 72 hours. Color me impressed

MyLife
MyLife is an American information brokerage firm founded by Jeffrey Tinsley in 2002 as Reunion.com. In addition to that name it previously conducted business as Wink.com. MyLife gathers personal information through public records and other sources to automatically generate a “MyLife Public Page” for each person.

1. Visit https://www.mylife.com
2. Find the search bar that is located in the middle of the page
3. Type your name (phone number, email address, or home address) in the search bar then hit “Enter” (or click the magnifying glass icon to the right of the bar)
4. Review the results that come up for your name and find the entries that are related to you
5. If you have a very common name, you can filter these search results by, “States”, “City”, and, “Age”. Use these tools to help find the correct profile (or profiles) for you
6. Once you have located your profile, do not do anything else
7. This will now call MyLife and listen to their hard sales spiel, but stick to your guns
8. Call MyLife at (888) 704-1900 or Email your request to removalrequests@mylife.com

*** Some people state that they will actually click the “this is me…” then “Finalize Report” and then sign-up for a free account (Which costs you $1.00, but you have to cancel, which requires a phone call to cancel). Once they have access, they will try to remove everything that they can ***/strong>

PeopleSmart
PeopleSmart is a prospecting tool that gives users the ability to find leads and business contacts using a variety of criteria. The website is as easy to use as any search engine. Users simply select attributes of the people they’d like to reach and receive a list of potential matches.

1. Visit https://www.peoplesmart.com/optout
2. You will be redirected to https://www.beenverified.com/app/optout/search
3. Enter your information
4. Located your profile
5. Submit a request (use a disposable email address)

My data was removed within 72 hours.

Intelius
Intelius, Inc. is a public records business headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It provides information services, including people and property searches, background checks, and reverse phone lookups.

1. Visit https://www.intelius.com/opt-out/submit/
2. Search for yourself
3. Locate your profile
4. Click Remove this record
5. Fill out the form (use a disposable email address)
6. Follow the instructions that are sent to you via email
7. Confirm the email address
8. Supposedly it is going to be deleted (it took less than 10 minutes for them to delete my records)

Intelius owns several other properties including ZabaSearch, Address.com, PublicRecords.com, AnyWho, EasyBackgroundChecks

My data was removed within 10 minutes

US Search
US Search is an online tool that provides background checks and personal searches. It pulls information from public records, including criminal records, social media profiles, property records, and more. You can search by name, address, or phone number.

1. Visit https://www.ussearch.com/opt-out/submit/
2. Search for yourself
3. Locate your profile
4. Click Remove this record
5. Fill out the form (use a disposable email address)
6. Follow the instructions that are sent to you via email
7. Confirm the email address
8. Supposedly it is going to be deleted (it took less than 10 minutes for them to delete my records)

US Search owns several other properties including ThePublicRecords, PeopleLookup

My data was removed within 10 minutes

*** Always use a disposable email address if you have to create an account with any of these services ***

Next month I will cover five more services and how to remove yourself from them.