The digital age has been an ongoing war for complete privacy. Many tools have been dispersed hoping to finally cut off data brokers and prevent the sale of personal information to nefarious entities. DeleteMe remains on the front lines as a valuable resource for combating unmitigated privacy risks.
One of the biggest threats to personal privacy is data brokers, an entity that collects personal information and sells it to third parties. While much of the data sourced is found via public records, it’s not uncommon for brokers to scour private networks and databases to find information that would otherwise be protected. With an estimation of more than 4,000 active data brokers, it would be virtually impossible for an individual to have their data removed without help. That’s the value of DeleteMe, a privacy information removal service specializing in locating public and private information listings in broker databases.
How Does DeleteMe Work?
To enlist DeleteMe on your side, you’ll need to subscribe to the annual plan, which includes removal from over 30 of the top data broker sites. If you’ve ever Googled yourself, some of the targeted brokers may sound familiar, including Spokeo, Whitepages, Neighbor.Report, MyLife, and PeopleFinders. The subscription winds up being the biggest hurdle in taking advantage of DeleteMe’s service.
At over $100 per year for just one user, it’s not the most budget-friendly tool out there. There are options for multi-user or family discounts, but some may find the cost hard to justify. However, for many, it's worth it as a means to safeguard Personal Identifiable Information (PII), which can be used to steal your identity.
Using Your Personal Data to Protect Your Personal Data
It may sound ironic, but for DeleteMe to be effective, you’ll need to provide it with extensive personal information. DeleteMe looks for indicators that tie back to you, such as alternate names. However, it won’t know to look for specific variations or data sets if you don’t tell it to.
Along with different versions of your name, even including misspellings, you’ll provide prior addresses, former employers, and relatives. Unlike brokers, DeleteMe won’t sell this information. Instead, it searches for records that match, identifies the broker listing that information, and submits a request for removal.
DeleteMe Features
The DeleteMe dashboard is fairly easy to read. Fields and graphs provide a glimpse at the number of data brokers searched and listings reviewed. You’ll also see what information is being exposed the most and how many listings DeleteMe has successfully removed. You’ll also receive access to a more extensive quarterly report showing which data brokers listed your data, the type of data listed, and a breakdown of the work DeleteMe put in.
Your data protection extends even beyond battling brokers. DeleteMe also includes options to keep your email and phone number private to minimize spam and telemarketing calls. Email and phone masking creates a placeholder that prevents third parties from seeing the actual data, which also further protects against data brokers.
U.S. Lawmakers Aim to Empower DeleteMe
In June 2023, U.S. House and Senate lawmakers proposed the Data Elimination and Limiting Extensive Tracking and Exchange (DELETE) Act to establish a system allowing individuals to request data brokers to remove all personal information. While the national proposition remains unpassed, California moved forward with its own legislature, empowering services like DeleteMe to better serve its customers.
It can be difficult to put a price on protecting your personal data, and with U.S. lawmakers pushing for a simplified process that services like DeleteMe can use to become more efficient, the benefits become more apparent.
DeleteMe: A Service Well Worth Its Cost
Pricing for DeleteMe typically starts at $129 per year for one user or $229 per year for two people, but with the promo code PARTNER20, you can get any of the protection plans for 20% off. In all plans, DeleteMe will save you potentially dozens of hours of searching the Internet for data broker listings and submitting your own requests for removal.
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Promo Code PARTNER20
Keeping your personal information private on the web can be tough, but our friends at DeleteMe have made this mission more accessible for users everywhere. You can have your personal data scrubbed from the net for 20% off all protection plans.