3 ms·

Not mentioned: Removing your information from all social media / messengers : https://redact.dev https://redact.dev (disclaimer, im on the team) Removing your

by ds 3y ago

Not mentioned: Removing your information from all social media / messengers : https://redact.dev https://redact.dev (disclaimer, im on the team) Removing your information from all databrokers https://easyoptouts.com https://easyoptouts.com / incogni / deleteme / optery

jpsouth 3y ago
Does redact come with account deletion as well?
danwee 3y ago
> Removing your information from all databrokers https://easyoptouts.com https://easyoptouts.com / incogni / deleteme / optery How ironic. In order to remove my data from the internet, I first need to give my data to that random website.
- pc86 3y ago
  I mean in a world where data collection is pretty explicitly opt-out it makes sense. They do need to know what data to remove, right?
opteryology 3y ago
Absolutely agree with the importance of removing information from data brokers (aka People Search Sites), since they are be a goldmine for bad actors. Actually, Optery is a YC 2022 company and there are some good discussions on Optery and its competitors here on HN, ex: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30605010 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30605010 For those evaluating data removal services, a solid first step is to sign up for each company’s free scan and compare the results. Full disclosure: I am on the Optery team
shortcake27 3y ago
Where is the world collectively on outlawing data brokers? If your business model revolves around selling people’s data without their consent, you’re a nuisance. Literally nobody would explicitly agree to have their data sold and used to bother them. We have plenty of laws against nuisance, because nuisance doesn’t benefit society. Why is it taking so long to ban this business model?
- JohnMakin 3y ago
  > Literally nobody would explicitly agree to have their data sold and used to bother them. I don’t think this is the case. fairly recently I’ve seen the old “if you dont want to be tracked by facebook, then dont use it!!!” take on here from people who are supposed to know better. Maybe not explicit, but if you told them I guarantee most people do not care at all, or people would be far more upset than they currently are.
  - Terretta 3y ago
    And "But I like ads that know what I want. Why would you want to see ads for things you don't want?" is hard to argue with until you realize there's no particular reason you have to see ads. The '90s web was fine without ads, in its "pamphleteering" days when people spent an amount of money proportionate to how badly they wanted to say something, and that was it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamphleteer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamphleteer
- fmajid 3y ago
  If you are a Californian, starting 2026 you will have a one-stop shop to opt out of all data brokers: https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/18/california_passes_bill_to_set/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/18/california_passes_bil...
  - Slow_Hand 3y ago
    I'm thrilled. This cannot come soon enough.
    - hedora 3y ago
      Don’t get too excited. It’s a regulatory capture play by the big monopolies. It specifically exempts vertically integrated data brokers such as Google and Facebook. In other words, if a data broker sells your data, and it is used for an ad auction run by a third party, that’s subject to the opt out. If google uses your data to place bids on behalf of an advertiser in an auction that google runs and then places the ads using its own infrastructure, there is no opt out requirement. If the second scenario sounds like it is prone to auction fraud and abuse of monopoly power, that’s because it is. Take a look at today’s DOJ testimony from a former Google exec. (To be clear, I want a stronger, ideally opt-in, bill that applies equally to that entire industry, not one that picks winners based on lobbying and campaign donations.)
gt2 3y ago
Has anyone experienced a drop in recruiter spam when removing your information from databrokers with those services? I have daily unsolicited recruiter emails in the last few years, and I'm not on linkedIn since 2018-ish, so I have no idea where they are getting my info from.
autoexec 3y ago
Probably because it doesn't work. You can remove specific information from specific websites, but most of that has been scraped and copied already. You can request that companies delete information you have already handed over to them, but you have no power to compel them to delete all the information that they learned about you by analysis of that data. If your phone gives Google a list of your GPS coordinates over the last 30 days that's your data and you can request that Google delete it. They don't care, because they've already used that to learn where you live, how often you go to bars, where you work, how often you go to the gym, and who you've been sleeping with. That's their data, not yours. Data brokers don't care about deleting your data. Their data about your data is what they get paid for.

by ds 3y ago

jpsouth 3y ago

Does redact come with account deletion as well?

danwee 3y ago

> Removing your information from all databrokers https://easyoptouts.com https://easyoptouts.com / incogni / deleteme / optery How ironic. In order to remove my data from the internet, I first need to give my data to that random website.

pc86 3y ago
I mean in a world where data collection is pretty explicitly opt-out it makes sense. They do need to know what data to remove, right?

opteryology 3y ago

Absolutely agree with the importance of removing information from data brokers (aka People Search Sites), since they are be a goldmine for bad actors. Actually, Optery is a YC 2022 company and there are some good discussions on Optery and its competitors here on HN, ex: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30605010 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30605010 For those evaluating data removal services, a solid first step is to sign up for each company’s free scan and compare the results. Full disclosure: I am on the Optery team

shortcake27 3y ago

Where is the world collectively on outlawing data brokers? If your business model revolves around selling people’s data without their consent, you’re a nuisance. Literally nobody would explicitly agree to have their data sold and used to bother them. We have plenty of laws against nuisance, because nuisance doesn’t benefit society. Why is it taking so long to ban this business model?

JohnMakin 3y ago
> Literally nobody would explicitly agree to have their data sold and used to bother them. I don’t think this is the case. fairly recently I’ve seen the old “if you dont want to be tracked by facebook, then dont use it!!!” take on here from people who are supposed to know better. Maybe not explicit, but if you told them I guarantee most people do not care at all, or people would be far more upset than they currently are.
- Terretta 3y ago
  And "But I like ads that know what I want. Why would you want to see ads for things you don't want?" is hard to argue with until you realize there's no particular reason you have to see ads. The '90s web was fine without ads, in its "pamphleteering" days when people spent an amount of money proportionate to how badly they wanted to say something, and that was it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamphleteer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamphleteer
fmajid 3y ago
If you are a Californian, starting 2026 you will have a one-stop shop to opt out of all data brokers: https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/18/california_passes_bill_to_set/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/18/california_passes_bil...
- Slow_Hand 3y ago
  I'm thrilled. This cannot come soon enough.
  - hedora 3y ago
    Don’t get too excited. It’s a regulatory capture play by the big monopolies. It specifically exempts vertically integrated data brokers such as Google and Facebook. In other words, if a data broker sells your data, and it is used for an ad auction run by a third party, that’s subject to the opt out. If google uses your data to place bids on behalf of an advertiser in an auction that google runs and then places the ads using its own infrastructure, there is no opt out requirement. If the second scenario sounds like it is prone to auction fraud and abuse of monopoly power, that’s because it is. Take a look at today’s DOJ testimony from a former Google exec. (To be clear, I want a stronger, ideally opt-in, bill that applies equally to that entire industry, not one that picks winners based on lobbying and campaign donations.)

gt2 3y ago

Has anyone experienced a drop in recruiter spam when removing your information from databrokers with those services? I have daily unsolicited recruiter emails in the last few years, and I'm not on linkedIn since 2018-ish, so I have no idea where they are getting my info from.

autoexec 3y ago

Probably because it doesn't work. You can remove specific information from specific websites, but most of that has been scraped and copied already. You can request that companies delete information you have already handed over to them, but you have no power to compel them to delete all the information that they learned about you by analysis of that data. If your phone gives Google a list of your GPS coordinates over the last 30 days that's your data and you can request that Google delete it. They don't care, because they've already used that to learn where you live, how often you go to bars, where you work, how often you go to the gym, and who you've been sleeping with. That's their data, not yours. Data brokers don't care about deleting your data. Their data about your data is what they get paid for.