Personal information removal service
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A personal information removal service is designed to help individuals reduce their digital footprint by removing their private data from the internet, particularly from data brokers and people search websites.[1] These services cater to internet users’ concerns over data privacy and data brokers' widespread collection and sale of personal information.
Background
Data brokers collect and sell people’s personal information, often without the individual's consent.[2] This data includes names, addresses, and browsing habits, which can then be used for targeted advertising and risk assessment or even sold to third parties.[3] Data protection regulations like the GDPR and CCPA allow consumers to make takedown and deletion requests. However, these regulations do not prevent data brokers from initially collecting the data.[4][5] The proliferation of data brokers has led to an increased demand for services that can help individuals in regaining control of their personal data.[6]
Functionality
Personal information removal services work by identifying and requesting data brokers to delete the personal information of their clients. This process can be manual or fully automated, but it's nevertheless complex because it involves dealing with numerous data brokers, each with different policies and procedures for data removal.[7]
Companies offering personal information removal also face some issues. They struggle to ensure comprehensive data removal as new data brokers emerge and existing ones don’t always comply with removal requests. Most of them are also limited to certain regions or countries.[8]
Popular personal data removal services
- DeleteMe. Offering personal data removal service, DeleteMe operates in more than 20 countries. It offers detailed breakdowns of data removal progress and supports custom removal requests.[9][10]
- Incogni. Removes data from a broad range of data brokers in more than 30 countries that include the US, Canada, the EU, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the UK. It periodically checks to ensure that data isn’t re-added and offers a hands-off approach for users. Incogni works with 200 data brokers.[11][12]
- Privacy Bee. This comprehensive service claims to remove data from over 400 data brokers, and it includes features like vulnerability scanning and tracking prevention.[13][14]
References
- ^ "Data Brokers and Data Deletion Services: What You Need to Know". CNET. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ "The Data Brokers: Selling your personal information - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2014-03-09. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
- ^ Walsh, Ray (2022-04-14). "How to Remove Yourself From the Internet in 2023". Comparitech. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ "Everything you need to know about the "Right to be forgotten"". GDPR.eu. 2018-11-05. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ Malik, Omer Imran (2021-05-26). "Right to delete under California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)". Securiti. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ Sequoia (2021-11-18). "The Rising Consumer Demand for Data Privacy and Autonomy". Sequoia Capital Publication. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ "Broker Sites". McAfee. 2022-08-24.
- ^ Fadilpašić, Sead (2023-11-16). "What Are Data Removal Services, and What Data Can They Remove?". MUO. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ "Sites We Remove From - JoinDeleteMe". joindeleteme.com. 2022-12-23. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ "DeleteMe Review 2023: How Well Can You Disappear?". All About Cookies. 2023-05-18. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
- ^ "Incogni Review and Test Results 2023 (Worth the Price?)". RestorePrivacy. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ "Surfshark Incogni". PCMag UK. 2023-02-21. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
- ^ Walsh, Ray (2022-04-14). "How to Remove Yourself From the Internet in 2023". Comparitech. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ "Privacy Bee". PCMag UK. 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2023-12-04.