12 ms·

Data Broker Opt-Out List

381 points by JoshTriplett 6y ago

29athrowaway 6y ago
By opting out sometimes you have to provide them with even more information than what they initially had.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- tjpnz 6y ago
  That's my concern. Some of them seem very sketchy.
- suyash 6y ago
  Exactly as most are asking for email which inadvertently can confirm the identity and if you use the same email for other services, they can get even more data about you. I guess it's a matter of trust, how much do you trust their 'opt out' promise.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - e_y_ 6y ago
    If you're paranoid, definitely use a throwaway email for the opt out. They already have so much info on me that I'm doubtful that confirming my identity would add anything to that. I guess we're lucky that most of these SEO-saavy brokers seem to at least pay lip service to US/EU laws (or even do so voluntarily, since I think only a handful of states actually restrict selling your publicly-available or personal information online). I shudder to think about what's floating around for sale on the dark web or companies hosted in countries that don't care about US law.
    - jobigoud 6y ago
      > If you're paranoid, definitely use a throwaway email for the opt out. If this worked then anyone could opt out anyone else, which some people would object to. I think that's the loophole they use to force you to provide even more info.
noahmbarr 6y ago
Amazing list. Wish you could sort by search rank order.
jonahx 6y ago
Are there any paid services that will do the work to opt you out of all of these?
- JoshTriplett 6y ago
  I've seen a few, including https://www.privacyduck.com/ https://www.privacyduck.com/ , but I don't know how well they work.
- ludamad 6y ago
  I'd love a privacy union. So much that I could see letting it make decisions for me until I naturally worried about the privacy implications
  - edoceo 6y ago
    Not Political but, Andrew Yang is working for privacy.
    - abnercoimbre 6y ago
      For those interested, see Yang's Data Dividend Project [0]. Just reading the fine print will give you legal insight into what you can and cannot do in the US. [0] https://datadividendproject.com https://datadividendproject.com
- nitrohorse 6y ago
  DeleteMe [1] from Abine [2] comes to mind. > We monitor each data broker website for your personal information every three months, providing you with four DeleteMe Privacy Reports per year. [3] [1] https://joindeleteme.com/ https://joindeleteme.com/ [2] https://abine.com/ https://abine.com/ [3] https://joindeleteme.com/help/kb/monitor-my-info/ https://joindeleteme.com/help/kb/monitor-my-info/
- axaxs 6y ago
  Seriously, I'd pay 100 dollars right now if someone just handled this all for me. And I'm sure at least a few thousands of others would too. Sounds like a decent startup idea to me. Edit to add: I did read the other comments. joindeleteme seems like a scam/money grab. Yearly sub that autorenews, and a BBB rating displayed? Give me a real tech service.
zxcvbn4038 6y ago
I’ve been through most of these and removing yourself really can be done. In many cases the removal is considered temporary and you have to repeat every four to ten years. It’s not possible to get off of the skip trace and debt collectors databases run by Transunion, Experian, and others - but you can flood them with false information and they will record it and keep it forever.
- paulproteus 6y ago
  I'd love to know what kind of false information you're enjoying sending them, and how!
  - zxcvbn4038 6y ago
    - Fill out surveys at malls with your name and either a phone number or address that matches one currently in your credit file and you can supply false info for the the opposite. - Put in a mail forwarding card with your name from a former address to a random real address like a Starbucks, Taco Bell, apartment complex w/o unit number, etc. - Change the billing address of a credit card or utility and allow to sit for one billing cycle. Works best if you have e-statements. They will send a physical confirmation to the address and it will most likely go in the trash but not guaranteed. - once a quarter you can update your information with the credit bureaus and they will Happily record it. Later you can say you never lived there and they will remove the info - but only from the databases used in credit decisions These are the ones most effective because there is almost no filtering, just a bunch of automated processes collecting and distributing. Just make sure there are one or two “facts” that the data quality algorithms can use to link your “new” data with existing profiles.
    - mike_d 6y ago
      Then when you go to open a credit card or actually try to clean up your credit report, you'll need to remember which Taco Bell you randomly pretended to live at to answer security questions.
      - 6y ago
seqizz 6y ago
Pardon my ignorance,is this US specific (or mostly US)? Why is this stuff allowed?
- ktal 6y ago
  Welcome to the United States of America, baBY! WOO Freedom!
- boxed 6y ago
  The US has been dismantling the rule of law for decades. They call it "deregulation". It lead directly to the last big financial crash, and it also is largely responsible for predatory schools, prisons, universities, banks, and much more.
  - ekianjo 6y ago
    > It lead directly to the last big financial crash, Erm no. 2008 was directly linked to Greenspan (Fed), Freddie Mac (Federal) and Fannie Mae (Federal), all government run entities, which stopped making proper risk evaluation when issuing loans. That's not deregulation, that's a problem with how these government agencies actually functioned. https://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2008/09/10/the-people-responsible-for-fannie-mae-and-freddie-.aspx https://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2008/09/10/t... > If not the boldest of the group, then at least the most public, Greenspan, the man many are now blaming for the housing bubble (there were a brave few that piped up years ago), has refused to go quietly into his well-padded retirement. The man charged with providing the country with a financial voice of reason fell far short, so much so that it might be comical if it weren't so tragic. > Greenspan's denial of the possibility of a housing bubble has been widely derided in the past year, but a single statement could be excused as human error. However, a quick scan shows that this wasn't a single event. He also promoted the adoption and expansion of adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) products in early 2004, when short-term rates were at or near historic lows. That same year he claimed, "securitization by Fannie and Freddie allows mortgage originators to separate themselves from almost all aspects of risk associated with mortgage lending." And separate themselves they did, ceasing to perform any kind of due diligence as to the ability of borrowers to pay for the homes they were buying.
3np 6y ago
Lots of these are 403ing now. Good job HN, don't forget to get back once they're up again ;)
leptoniscool 6y ago
This should be called BADBOOL
axaxs 6y ago
If anyone cares, there are a nontrivial amount of companies who have your 'private' LinkedIn info. I don't know if they make fake accounts to friend you, recruiter profiles, or buy it from LinkedIn. I asked one to please remove my info, and they sent me a CCPA form. I told them I didn't live in California, and an agent acted confused and told me to just fill it out, it's the only way to remove it. In short, don't trust LinkedIn.
- DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
  crunchbase is one such place. they harvested everything from my LinkedIn, I asked them to remove my profile they say it's not possible unless I also send them additional data (scan of my passport). they say it's impossible to remove my info because it is "crowd sourced" which may be the case today but from the data they have on me it is from when they had no users yet and when they scraped sh!t from linkedin: * Hello, To comply with various privacy laws, we require the completion of this form to remove the person profile you have mentioned. If you would like to delete your personal profile page, please complete this form here. Best, Erika ---- Dear Erika, thank you for the information. I have never signed up to this site and therefore do _not_ consent to any information about me being stored on your systems and I do not care who creates these profiles. It is your responsibility under GDPR not to store information about me without my explicit consent and I therefore kindly ask for information about me to be deleted, further I expect any future profiles about me to be blocked from getting created and such info not to be stored also in the future. In case information is not deleted within 30 days I will hand over this matter to my lawyer and also file a report with my data protection commissioner in the EU. best regards, ---- dear <...>, Thank you for contacting Crunchbase! Please note, if you have an active trial or subscription we recommend that you cancel first before moving forward. Instructions on how to cancel your trial here. And instructions on how to cancel your subscription here. If you would like to download or permanently delete your user account information, please complete this form here. If you would like to delete your personal profile page, please complete this form here. If you would like to deactivate your user account, please reply to this email to deactivate your account. You can contact support@crunchbase.com if you wish to reactivate your account at a later date. Keep in mind, your user account is the private information that you can use to control your billing, login information, and alerts. A profile page is what displays externally on Crunchbase - these are completely separate. Because Crunchbase is a crowdsourced platform, any registered user can add or edit any profile page - profiles are not explicitly linked to any user. Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions - we'll be happy to help! Best, Erika
gfaure 6y ago
https://www.instantpeoplefinder.com/optout.php https://www.instantpeoplefinder.com/optout.php goes directly to a 404. Honestly doesn't surprise me, but there's a special place in tech hell for these people.
occz 6y ago
For EU-citizens, any legal data collection would have to be opt-in, right? If I've had no business with any of these companies, there should be no reason for me to have to opt-out.
- jonplackett 6y ago
  Despite this, loads of companies still do opt-out with impunity.
  - sleavey 6y ago
    I think the EU are still being very lenient with companies right now to give them time to adjust their practices. I'm looking forward to when they (hopefully) start to hand out fines.
    - nelaboras 6y ago
      It's an EU law but enforcement is up to the individual countries. Which is why Ireland keeps its own regulator on a tight leash - to keep the big US players there.
    - mehrdadn 6y ago
      > I'm looking forward to when they (hopefully) start to hand out fines. Given the pandemic, plausible economic collapse, Brexit, and so many other things going on in the world right now, I wouldn't hold my breath.
- cb504 6y ago
  Does anyone have info on GDPR's success in getting data removed or fining companies? I am not following closely, but last I saw was GDPR is a law whose enforcement is untested.
  - terramex 6y ago
    List of all GDPR-based fines: https://www.enforcementtracker.com https://www.enforcementtracker.com
suyash 6y ago
I get a lot of hotel offers, essentially robocalls. Is there an opt out for the same?
- suyash 6y ago
  Just registered with FTC's do not call list, let's hope that works.
  - sopromo 6y ago
    Spammers actually use that list to find numbers to call.
  - anonymoushn 6y ago
    This is an awful idea. The volume of spam calls I receive greatly increased when I did this.
    - abnercoimbre 6y ago
      Sigh. Same.
    - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
      Did you report any of the calls?
      - anonymoushn 6y ago
        I'm not sure what the point of that would be, the caller ID is generally fake.
        pbhjpbhj 6y ago
        Oh, I talk to them and ask the caller for information that reveals the company behind the call; then complain via the agency that manages the donotcall lists in my country. Like oh yeah, double glazing, yeah, send an appraiser to my house, can I have a phone number in case I need to cancel? What company ID badge will the appraiser have? I don't get many calls through though.
avivo 6y ago
"DeleteMe, PrivacyDuck, OneRep, Reputation Defender and Reputation.com all offer different opt-out services. However, these are not comprehensive, as some data brokers do not allow third parties to remove listings." This seems odd. I'm curious if anyone has substantiated it? PrivacyDuck seems deeply ethical, and I would assume they would inform users if this was the case. Here is their guide for reference, that walks you through exactly what they do: https://www.privacyduck.com/resources/ https://www.privacyduck.com/resources/ (Assuming I understand correctly what they are saying; please correct me if I'm wrong!)
jameson 6y ago
I'm surprised they have my name and address though it's a few years outdated. How did they get it? If I opt out, doesn't it confirm that what they have is accurate and make my data even more valuable? Given the nature of these sites, isn't it sketchy to provide DL to opt out or am I being paranoid?
- pm90 6y ago
  It would confirm your data but they’re legally bound to respect your choice. For any fairly large orgs (eg if they’re public/listed on major exchanges) disobeying your choice would be a huge risk which they will likely not take ( the smaller data brokers don’t have as much to lose, but just to be clear it would still be illegal).
  - mehrdadn 6y ago
    > they’re legally bound to respect your choice Can I ask by what law?
    - sofixa 6y ago
      GDPR and the California law inspired by it.
      - mehrdadn 6y ago
        So only for those in Europe and CA? Even re: California, are you sure CCPA implies these data brokers have to respect your opt-out for this particular purpose? (For reference, the opt-outs existed before CCPA and I believe GDPR as well... so you're saying they gained teeth afterward?)
        Scoundreller 6y ago
        Well, I guess I know what I’m doing the next time I’m in Europe (or even just their airspace?).
dawnerd 6y ago
So interestingly enough, a Facebook account I made years ago that was only used as a test is somehow in the records linked to my current address. Facebook is literally the only person that knows about this account and its never been attached to my personal FB account. It's making me really suspect right now...
- aarong11 6y ago
  Why? This is Facebook's business model. They have a shadow profile for you and managed to link your test account or some other service they own (whatsapp?) with your real account. They only need a single data point.
  - encom 6y ago
    I'm surprised TFA doesn't include Facebook[1]. It's worse than all the others combined. [1] https://facebook.com/help/delete_account https://facebook.com/help/delete_account
  - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
    > Why? ... is irrelevant IIRC. He's asking How.
- room505 6y ago
  Facebook purchases data from these brokers and credit card companies to create shadow profiles.
- sizzle 6y ago
  Created both accounts from same ip address?
  - infogulch 6y ago
    Just accessing from the same ip would do it. Or using the same browser.
summitsummit 6y ago
I went through the process to delete it, including giving them my email address. They showed me all my relatives, their home address, and said that I needed to confirm my email. Never received my email. This is going to keep me up at night.
sanqui 6y ago
It would be nice if there was an indication if any of these cover non-American citizens, Europe in particular.
summitsummit 6y ago
be careful you guys. these are awful people collecting this data, and i'm pretty suspicious that they will use the additional data they gather form you when you opt out ("for proof its you") and use it against you in their other databases. for instance, i confirmed my phone and email info in order to opt out of one but another clone site now says my information is "Verified".
- swiley 6y ago
  I’m sure in some countries that would make them liable. It’s a shame the US probably isn’t one of them, our litigative culture would put an end to that stupidity very quickly.
  - Scoundreller 6y ago
    Just fill out the forms on your next trip to Europe?
    - gruez 6y ago
      Being on vacation in europe doesn't make you a resident
      - Scoundreller 6y ago
        Where does GDPR require you to be a resident? Tourists have plenty of rights, and I doubt their right to privacy is any less than anyone else’s once on the territory.
      - tobylane 6y ago
        The EU says individuals, and I've always understood it to be anyone in the EU countries plus EU citizens anywhere. https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/rules-business-and-organisations/application-regulation/who-does-data-protection-law-apply_en https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/refo...
luplex 6y ago
Are there tools that would automate the opt-out process for a lot of these? Those would be really helpful!
l33tman 6y ago
One way to attack this in a larger scale is to get the responsible politicians somehow outed in media by any of these databases. For example one media article that got good spread here was when the newspaper bought the GPS-tracking information for a politician and wrote about it (they did not publish it, no need to).
Dowwie 6y ago
Thanks, Josh!
highenergystar 6y ago
I'm curious if anyone has any info on the business model here. There seems to be a ridiculous number of data brokers, so with this amount of competition, the marginal profit must be low. Online advertisers probably get better bank for buck just using Google's or Facebook's pre-targeted profiles. Banks and financial institutions and real background checks probably stick with the few big ones (credit bureaus, or lexis nexis etc.) Is this for snail mail spam? Telemarketers? Stalkers?
- privacy-matters 6y ago
  Sales teams need this data to reach the right roles with the right message. My friend was quoted $19k per year to access to the ZoomInfo database for his two person company. There is crazy money here. ZoomInfo has a $17B market cap last I looked.
- Breza 6y ago
  A lot of the data brokers specialize in specific audiences. For example, I work with a lot of physician data at my job and a ton of companies sub-specialize in specific aspects of that market.
libra1 6y ago
I highly recommend OneRep (https://onerep.com/ https://onerep.com/) as a service to remove you from these websites. I've been using it myself for a while and it has saved me a lot of headache. For those of you who do want to remove all of the info yourself, I've found this is also a good resource: https://inteltechniques.com/data/workbook.pdf https://inteltechniques.com/data/workbook.pdf
- chriscampbell 6y ago
  From the research I have done, Onerep is also a data broker that lists your data online https://www.privacyduck.com/comparisons/privacyduck-vs-onerep-com-the-eastern-european-privacy-company/ https://www.privacyduck.com/comparisons/privacyduck-vs-onere...
  - privacy-matters 6y ago
    Lol, that’s hilarious. Checkout CircleBack which is a free tool that scrapes your email for contacts for you. Now look at their CEO. He also owns a data broker. I am sure he is selling the CircleBack data.
  - Qub3d 6y ago
    That seems a bit of a biased source, though. How do I know privacyduck is any better?
  - libra1 6y ago
    Thanks for posting this. I do feel foolish that I didn't come across the relationship between OneRep and Nuwber myself. I hope other HN readers will see this and take this into account before they consider OneRep. I'll definitely consider deleting my account.
Jemm 6y ago
Time for stricter privacy laws and a code of ethics for programmers.
specialist 6y ago
Opt-out lists are just another vulnerability. Hysterical. There are just two possible outcomes. Default to David Brin style radical transparency. With a pay-for-privacy grift on top. Or we get serious about privacy. That means translucent databases (hash all PII, just like password files), Real ID (no anon, no bots, registered alias ok), and extend property rights to our personal data (it's my data, pay me).
luxurycommunism 6y ago
The DoNotCall registry is compromised. If you have never received telemarketing calls and you don't receive them frequently, keep your precious number off this site. Once I did and after a week I got more spam calls than ever. The FTC strongly denies that the list is compromised but it obviously is.
malchow 6y ago
Isn't this what Spartacus (https://spartacus.com https://spartacus.com) does?
agustif 6y ago
I just spent 10 minutes opting out of everything my linkedin settings let me... Short of deleting it...
ixxie 6y ago
Can I pay a service provider to do this for me en-masse? If not, why is nobody starting a business like this?
- dublinben 6y ago
  Abine offers a service called "DeleteMe" which promises to do just that. https://joindeleteme.com/ https://joindeleteme.com/
johnjungles 6y ago
We should write an automated open source script that’ll submit the forms for us. Be happy to contribute, checking to see if there already is any efforts
slvrspoon 6y ago
founder of deleteme here (joindeleteme.com) Yael's list and other free DIY lists are good. You can do this yourself, it is simply time-consuming. https://joindeleteme.com/help/diy-free-opt-out-guide/ https://joindeleteme.com/help/diy-free-opt-out-guide/ The worst part imhop is that your opt-out is often not respected over time when new data flows in (including voting records scraped so get ready for November). Of course, you can always pay deleteme to do it for you. the real solution here is better-crafted legislation and a re-definition of public record information when it is published virtually. i expect this to take ~5 years, but optimistic we can get there.

381 points by JoshTriplett 6y ago

29athrowaway 6y ago

By opting out sometimes you have to provide them with even more information than what they initially had.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
tjpnz 6y ago
That's my concern. Some of them seem very sketchy.
suyash 6y ago
Exactly as most are asking for email which inadvertently can confirm the identity and if you use the same email for other services, they can get even more data about you. I guess it's a matter of trust, how much do you trust their 'opt out' promise.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- e_y_ 6y ago
  If you're paranoid, definitely use a throwaway email for the opt out. They already have so much info on me that I'm doubtful that confirming my identity would add anything to that. I guess we're lucky that most of these SEO-saavy brokers seem to at least pay lip service to US/EU laws (or even do so voluntarily, since I think only a handful of states actually restrict selling your publicly-available or personal information online). I shudder to think about what's floating around for sale on the dark web or companies hosted in countries that don't care about US law.
  - jobigoud 6y ago
    > If you're paranoid, definitely use a throwaway email for the opt out. If this worked then anyone could opt out anyone else, which some people would object to. I think that's the loophole they use to force you to provide even more info.

noahmbarr 6y ago

Amazing list. Wish you could sort by search rank order.

jonahx 6y ago

Are there any paid services that will do the work to opt you out of all of these?

JoshTriplett 6y ago
I've seen a few, including https://www.privacyduck.com/ https://www.privacyduck.com/ , but I don't know how well they work.
ludamad 6y ago
I'd love a privacy union. So much that I could see letting it make decisions for me until I naturally worried about the privacy implications
- edoceo 6y ago
  Not Political but, Andrew Yang is working for privacy.
  - abnercoimbre 6y ago
    For those interested, see Yang's Data Dividend Project [0]. Just reading the fine print will give you legal insight into what you can and cannot do in the US. [0] https://datadividendproject.com https://datadividendproject.com
nitrohorse 6y ago
DeleteMe [1] from Abine [2] comes to mind. > We monitor each data broker website for your personal information every three months, providing you with four DeleteMe Privacy Reports per year. [3] [1] https://joindeleteme.com/ https://joindeleteme.com/ [2] https://abine.com/ https://abine.com/ [3] https://joindeleteme.com/help/kb/monitor-my-info/ https://joindeleteme.com/help/kb/monitor-my-info/
axaxs 6y ago
Seriously, I'd pay 100 dollars right now if someone just handled this all for me. And I'm sure at least a few thousands of others would too. Sounds like a decent startup idea to me. Edit to add: I did read the other comments. joindeleteme seems like a scam/money grab. Yearly sub that autorenews, and a BBB rating displayed? Give me a real tech service.

zxcvbn4038 6y ago

I’ve been through most of these and removing yourself really can be done. In many cases the removal is considered temporary and you have to repeat every four to ten years. It’s not possible to get off of the skip trace and debt collectors databases run by Transunion, Experian, and others - but you can flood them with false information and they will record it and keep it forever.

paulproteus 6y ago
I'd love to know what kind of false information you're enjoying sending them, and how!
- zxcvbn4038 6y ago
  - Fill out surveys at malls with your name and either a phone number or address that matches one currently in your credit file and you can supply false info for the the opposite. - Put in a mail forwarding card with your name from a former address to a random real address like a Starbucks, Taco Bell, apartment complex w/o unit number, etc. - Change the billing address of a credit card or utility and allow to sit for one billing cycle. Works best if you have e-statements. They will send a physical confirmation to the address and it will most likely go in the trash but not guaranteed. - once a quarter you can update your information with the credit bureaus and they will Happily record it. Later you can say you never lived there and they will remove the info - but only from the databases used in credit decisions These are the ones most effective because there is almost no filtering, just a bunch of automated processes collecting and distributing. Just make sure there are one or two “facts” that the data quality algorithms can use to link your “new” data with existing profiles.
  - mike_d 6y ago
    Then when you go to open a credit card or actually try to clean up your credit report, you'll need to remember which Taco Bell you randomly pretended to live at to answer security questions.
    - 6y ago

seqizz 6y ago

Pardon my ignorance,is this US specific (or mostly US)? Why is this stuff allowed?

ktal 6y ago
Welcome to the United States of America, baBY! WOO Freedom!
boxed 6y ago
The US has been dismantling the rule of law for decades. They call it "deregulation". It lead directly to the last big financial crash, and it also is largely responsible for predatory schools, prisons, universities, banks, and much more.
- ekianjo 6y ago
  > It lead directly to the last big financial crash, Erm no. 2008 was directly linked to Greenspan (Fed), Freddie Mac (Federal) and Fannie Mae (Federal), all government run entities, which stopped making proper risk evaluation when issuing loans. That's not deregulation, that's a problem with how these government agencies actually functioned. https://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2008/09/10/the-people-responsible-for-fannie-mae-and-freddie-.aspx https://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2008/09/10/t... > If not the boldest of the group, then at least the most public, Greenspan, the man many are now blaming for the housing bubble (there were a brave few that piped up years ago), has refused to go quietly into his well-padded retirement. The man charged with providing the country with a financial voice of reason fell far short, so much so that it might be comical if it weren't so tragic. > Greenspan's denial of the possibility of a housing bubble has been widely derided in the past year, but a single statement could be excused as human error. However, a quick scan shows that this wasn't a single event. He also promoted the adoption and expansion of adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) products in early 2004, when short-term rates were at or near historic lows. That same year he claimed, "securitization by Fannie and Freddie allows mortgage originators to separate themselves from almost all aspects of risk associated with mortgage lending." And separate themselves they did, ceasing to perform any kind of due diligence as to the ability of borrowers to pay for the homes they were buying.

3np 6y ago

Lots of these are 403ing now. Good job HN, don't forget to get back once they're up again ;)

leptoniscool 6y ago

This should be called BADBOOL

axaxs 6y ago

If anyone cares, there are a nontrivial amount of companies who have your 'private' LinkedIn info. I don't know if they make fake accounts to friend you, recruiter profiles, or buy it from LinkedIn. I asked one to please remove my info, and they sent me a CCPA form. I told them I didn't live in California, and an agent acted confused and told me to just fill it out, it's the only way to remove it. In short, don't trust LinkedIn.

DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
crunchbase is one such place. they harvested everything from my LinkedIn, I asked them to remove my profile they say it's not possible unless I also send them additional data (scan of my passport). they say it's impossible to remove my info because it is "crowd sourced" which may be the case today but from the data they have on me it is from when they had no users yet and when they scraped sh!t from linkedin: * Hello, To comply with various privacy laws, we require the completion of this form to remove the person profile you have mentioned. If you would like to delete your personal profile page, please complete this form here. Best, Erika ---- Dear Erika, thank you for the information. I have never signed up to this site and therefore do _not_ consent to any information about me being stored on your systems and I do not care who creates these profiles. It is your responsibility under GDPR not to store information about me without my explicit consent and I therefore kindly ask for information about me to be deleted, further I expect any future profiles about me to be blocked from getting created and such info not to be stored also in the future. In case information is not deleted within 30 days I will hand over this matter to my lawyer and also file a report with my data protection commissioner in the EU. best regards, ---- dear <...>, Thank you for contacting Crunchbase! Please note, if you have an active trial or subscription we recommend that you cancel first before moving forward. Instructions on how to cancel your trial here. And instructions on how to cancel your subscription here. If you would like to download or permanently delete your user account information, please complete this form here. If you would like to delete your personal profile page, please complete this form here. If you would like to deactivate your user account, please reply to this email to deactivate your account. You can contact support@crunchbase.com if you wish to reactivate your account at a later date. Keep in mind, your user account is the private information that you can use to control your billing, login information, and alerts. A profile page is what displays externally on Crunchbase - these are completely separate. Because Crunchbase is a crowdsourced platform, any registered user can add or edit any profile page - profiles are not explicitly linked to any user. Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions - we'll be happy to help! Best, Erika

gfaure 6y ago

https://www.instantpeoplefinder.com/optout.php https://www.instantpeoplefinder.com/optout.php goes directly to a 404. Honestly doesn't surprise me, but there's a special place in tech hell for these people.

occz 6y ago

For EU-citizens, any legal data collection would have to be opt-in, right? If I've had no business with any of these companies, there should be no reason for me to have to opt-out.

jonplackett 6y ago
Despite this, loads of companies still do opt-out with impunity.
- sleavey 6y ago
  I think the EU are still being very lenient with companies right now to give them time to adjust their practices. I'm looking forward to when they (hopefully) start to hand out fines.
  - nelaboras 6y ago
    It's an EU law but enforcement is up to the individual countries. Which is why Ireland keeps its own regulator on a tight leash - to keep the big US players there.
  - mehrdadn 6y ago
    > I'm looking forward to when they (hopefully) start to hand out fines. Given the pandemic, plausible economic collapse, Brexit, and so many other things going on in the world right now, I wouldn't hold my breath.
cb504 6y ago
Does anyone have info on GDPR's success in getting data removed or fining companies? I am not following closely, but last I saw was GDPR is a law whose enforcement is untested.
- terramex 6y ago
  List of all GDPR-based fines: https://www.enforcementtracker.com https://www.enforcementtracker.com

suyash 6y ago

I get a lot of hotel offers, essentially robocalls. Is there an opt out for the same?

suyash 6y ago
Just registered with FTC's do not call list, let's hope that works.
- sopromo 6y ago
  Spammers actually use that list to find numbers to call.
- anonymoushn 6y ago
  This is an awful idea. The volume of spam calls I receive greatly increased when I did this.
  - abnercoimbre 6y ago
    Sigh. Same.
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
    Did you report any of the calls?
    - anonymoushn 6y ago
      I'm not sure what the point of that would be, the caller ID is generally fake.
      - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
        Oh, I talk to them and ask the caller for information that reveals the company behind the call; then complain via the agency that manages the donotcall lists in my country. Like oh yeah, double glazing, yeah, send an appraiser to my house, can I have a phone number in case I need to cancel? What company ID badge will the appraiser have? I don't get many calls through though.

avivo 6y ago

"DeleteMe, PrivacyDuck, OneRep, Reputation Defender and Reputation.com all offer different opt-out services. However, these are not comprehensive, as some data brokers do not allow third parties to remove listings." This seems odd. I'm curious if anyone has substantiated it? PrivacyDuck seems deeply ethical, and I would assume they would inform users if this was the case. Here is their guide for reference, that walks you through exactly what they do: https://www.privacyduck.com/resources/ https://www.privacyduck.com/resources/ (Assuming I understand correctly what they are saying; please correct me if I'm wrong!)

jameson 6y ago

I'm surprised they have my name and address though it's a few years outdated. How did they get it? If I opt out, doesn't it confirm that what they have is accurate and make my data even more valuable? Given the nature of these sites, isn't it sketchy to provide DL to opt out or am I being paranoid?

pm90 6y ago
It would confirm your data but they’re legally bound to respect your choice. For any fairly large orgs (eg if they’re public/listed on major exchanges) disobeying your choice would be a huge risk which they will likely not take ( the smaller data brokers don’t have as much to lose, but just to be clear it would still be illegal).
- mehrdadn 6y ago
  > they’re legally bound to respect your choice Can I ask by what law?
  - sofixa 6y ago
    GDPR and the California law inspired by it.
    - mehrdadn 6y ago
      So only for those in Europe and CA? Even re: California, are you sure CCPA implies these data brokers have to respect your opt-out for this particular purpose? (For reference, the opt-outs existed before CCPA and I believe GDPR as well... so you're saying they gained teeth afterward?)
      - Scoundreller 6y ago
        Well, I guess I know what I’m doing the next time I’m in Europe (or even just their airspace?).

dawnerd 6y ago

So interestingly enough, a Facebook account I made years ago that was only used as a test is somehow in the records linked to my current address. Facebook is literally the only person that knows about this account and its never been attached to my personal FB account. It's making me really suspect right now...

aarong11 6y ago
Why? This is Facebook's business model. They have a shadow profile for you and managed to link your test account or some other service they own (whatsapp?) with your real account. They only need a single data point.
- encom 6y ago
  I'm surprised TFA doesn't include Facebook[1]. It's worse than all the others combined. [1] https://facebook.com/help/delete_account https://facebook.com/help/delete_account
- throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
  > Why? ... is irrelevant IIRC. He's asking How.
room505 6y ago
Facebook purchases data from these brokers and credit card companies to create shadow profiles.
sizzle 6y ago
Created both accounts from same ip address?
- infogulch 6y ago
  Just accessing from the same ip would do it. Or using the same browser.

summitsummit 6y ago

I went through the process to delete it, including giving them my email address. They showed me all my relatives, their home address, and said that I needed to confirm my email. Never received my email. This is going to keep me up at night.

sanqui 6y ago

It would be nice if there was an indication if any of these cover non-American citizens, Europe in particular.

summitsummit 6y ago

be careful you guys. these are awful people collecting this data, and i'm pretty suspicious that they will use the additional data they gather form you when you opt out ("for proof its you") and use it against you in their other databases. for instance, i confirmed my phone and email info in order to opt out of one but another clone site now says my information is "Verified".

swiley 6y ago
I’m sure in some countries that would make them liable. It’s a shame the US probably isn’t one of them, our litigative culture would put an end to that stupidity very quickly.
- Scoundreller 6y ago
  Just fill out the forms on your next trip to Europe?
  - gruez 6y ago
    Being on vacation in europe doesn't make you a resident
    - Scoundreller 6y ago
      Where does GDPR require you to be a resident? Tourists have plenty of rights, and I doubt their right to privacy is any less than anyone else’s once on the territory.
    - tobylane 6y ago
      The EU says individuals, and I've always understood it to be anyone in the EU countries plus EU citizens anywhere. https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/rules-business-and-organisations/application-regulation/who-does-data-protection-law-apply_en https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/refo...

luplex 6y ago

Are there tools that would automate the opt-out process for a lot of these? Those would be really helpful!

l33tman 6y ago

One way to attack this in a larger scale is to get the responsible politicians somehow outed in media by any of these databases. For example one media article that got good spread here was when the newspaper bought the GPS-tracking information for a politician and wrote about it (they did not publish it, no need to).

Dowwie 6y ago

Thanks, Josh!

highenergystar 6y ago

I'm curious if anyone has any info on the business model here. There seems to be a ridiculous number of data brokers, so with this amount of competition, the marginal profit must be low. Online advertisers probably get better bank for buck just using Google's or Facebook's pre-targeted profiles. Banks and financial institutions and real background checks probably stick with the few big ones (credit bureaus, or lexis nexis etc.) Is this for snail mail spam? Telemarketers? Stalkers?

privacy-matters 6y ago
Sales teams need this data to reach the right roles with the right message. My friend was quoted $19k per year to access to the ZoomInfo database for his two person company. There is crazy money here. ZoomInfo has a $17B market cap last I looked.
Breza 6y ago
A lot of the data brokers specialize in specific audiences. For example, I work with a lot of physician data at my job and a ton of companies sub-specialize in specific aspects of that market.

libra1 6y ago

I highly recommend OneRep (https://onerep.com/ https://onerep.com/) as a service to remove you from these websites. I've been using it myself for a while and it has saved me a lot of headache. For those of you who do want to remove all of the info yourself, I've found this is also a good resource: https://inteltechniques.com/data/workbook.pdf https://inteltechniques.com/data/workbook.pdf

chriscampbell 6y ago
From the research I have done, Onerep is also a data broker that lists your data online https://www.privacyduck.com/comparisons/privacyduck-vs-onerep-com-the-eastern-european-privacy-company/ https://www.privacyduck.com/comparisons/privacyduck-vs-onere...
- privacy-matters 6y ago
  Lol, that’s hilarious. Checkout CircleBack which is a free tool that scrapes your email for contacts for you. Now look at their CEO. He also owns a data broker. I am sure he is selling the CircleBack data.
- Qub3d 6y ago
  That seems a bit of a biased source, though. How do I know privacyduck is any better?
- libra1 6y ago
  Thanks for posting this. I do feel foolish that I didn't come across the relationship between OneRep and Nuwber myself. I hope other HN readers will see this and take this into account before they consider OneRep. I'll definitely consider deleting my account.

Jemm 6y ago

Time for stricter privacy laws and a code of ethics for programmers.

specialist 6y ago

Opt-out lists are just another vulnerability. Hysterical. There are just two possible outcomes. Default to David Brin style radical transparency. With a pay-for-privacy grift on top. Or we get serious about privacy. That means translucent databases (hash all PII, just like password files), Real ID (no anon, no bots, registered alias ok), and extend property rights to our personal data (it's my data, pay me).

luxurycommunism 6y ago

The DoNotCall registry is compromised. If you have never received telemarketing calls and you don't receive them frequently, keep your precious number off this site. Once I did and after a week I got more spam calls than ever. The FTC strongly denies that the list is compromised but it obviously is.

malchow 6y ago

Isn't this what Spartacus (https://spartacus.com https://spartacus.com) does?

agustif 6y ago

I just spent 10 minutes opting out of everything my linkedin settings let me... Short of deleting it...

ixxie 6y ago

Can I pay a service provider to do this for me en-masse? If not, why is nobody starting a business like this?

dublinben 6y ago
Abine offers a service called "DeleteMe" which promises to do just that. https://joindeleteme.com/ https://joindeleteme.com/

johnjungles 6y ago

We should write an automated open source script that’ll submit the forms for us. Be happy to contribute, checking to see if there already is any efforts

slvrspoon 6y ago

founder of deleteme here (joindeleteme.com) Yael's list and other free DIY lists are good. You can do this yourself, it is simply time-consuming. https://joindeleteme.com/help/diy-free-opt-out-guide/ https://joindeleteme.com/help/diy-free-opt-out-guide/ The worst part imhop is that your opt-out is often not respected over time when new data flows in (including voting records scraped so get ready for November). Of course, you can always pay deleteme to do it for you. the real solution here is better-crafted legislation and a re-definition of public record information when it is published virtually. i expect this to take ~5 years, but optimistic we can get there.