How to Protect Your Information from Data Brokers



Is there an easy way to remove personal information from Google? A lot of people have been asking this question lately.

It is hard to fault anyone for being concerned about their online privacy—as the recent controversy surrounding Facebook and Cambridge Analytica has made clear, a lot of people are vulnerable to having their information and online activity monitored and collected. That information can then be used in potentially harmful ways.

https://joindeleteme.com/


The main parties that do this collecting are called data brokers. These are companies that gather up information on consumers—this could include addresses, income levels and web pages they visit—and sell it off to others.

Generally speaking, there are three kinds of data brokers:

1) People Search Websites

These are sites where someone can search a person’s name, phone number or email address and receive more details on that person. These sites could be free or charge a small fee. Examples of people search sites include PeopleSmart and Spokeo.

People could use these sites for completely innocent ends. For instance, you might try to look up a childhood friend who lived next door to you. However, identity thieves, stalkers and harassers might use this same information to harm others.

2) Marketing Companies

Other data brokers are more marketing-centric. They compile info on individual consumers, which others can use to customize their marketing.

This could lead to consumers receiving information about coupons or discounts that might appeal to them. However, it could also cause inaccurate info to spread about people, which could negatively impact their reputations and opportunities. For example, someone who searches for a disease might end up being classified as an insurance risk.

3) Risk Mitigation Companies

The last type of data broker are companies that specialize in risk mitigation (i.e. they help verify someone’s identity or track fraud). These companies usually do not create problems for average consumers. However, issues could arise if, say, someone is living at a house or apartment where a previous resident committed fraud. In this situation, a risk mitigation product could make it seem like an innocent person has committed a crime when they have not.

DeleteMe helps people find and remove personal information that has been gathered by data brokers. Created by the online privacy company Abine, the service provides assistance for removal from Whitepages and many other sites.

About DeleteMe

DeleteMe by Abine empowers average people to control how their personal information are accessed and shared online. By removing details like names, addresses and phone numbers from websites like PeopleFinders, Spokeo and DexKnows, this subscription service helps clients remove personal information from Google.

For more information, visit Joindeleteme.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Doxxing Is and How to Avoid It

Image
It’s hard to describe to members of the pre-internet generation how different life was before the World Wide Web changed everything. The ease of use and ubiquity of search engines alone represents an indescribable paradigm shift from a time when information on virtually anything you wanted to know about was at your fingertips.  Unfortunately, as is so often the case, the brave, relatively new world of information access has a downside. One of the biggest drawbacks of the information age is that it tends not to be picky about the information that’s shared, including information about you. And once shared, it’s hard to remove personal information from Google that’s aggregated by data brokers and tracked by search engines. Which brings us to the hateful world of “doxxing.” What Is Doxxing? There’s a common warning given to those interacting with strangers on the internet on social media, chat sites, dating sites, and the like: “Be careful, they could be anyone!” That s
Read more

What Do Data Broker Sites Know About Your Health and Wellness?

Image
Your medical records and health data are usually protected. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA , there are strict regulations about how your health information should be handled, and who can access it. Despite this, data broker sites and marketers know more than you would think about your medical history, often using targeted marketing that seems too accurate to not have your medical records on hand. From apps to internet searches, online tests to your wearable health device, your information is tracked and used for marketing. Online Depression Tests Share Your Answers You probably expect your movements across the internet to be tracked by the likes of Google and Facebook, using “cookies” as identifiers. You would assume, however, that health information would be protected against this. Instead, Privacy International found that online depression tests on popular mental health websites were sharing the answers with third parties.
Read more

Think Credit Cards Don’t Mine Personal Information? Think Again

Image
Credit cards make buying anything from groceries to electronics easy, whether it’s online or in-person. You might assume that what you purchased, for how much, and where is information known only to you and your bank or credit card lender. Unfortunately, your information gets shared much more widely than that.  Who Gets Your Info? Obviously, your credit card provider gets information about your purchase. This could be a bank, or it could be a retailer such as Target or Amazon. When Washington Post tech writer Geoffrey A. Fowler bought a banana at Target with this Amazon credit card, he found that the information was also shared with marketers , Google, hedge funds, and possibly more. Mobile wallets and financial apps can capture and use your data. If you slide your card through a point-of-sale machine, such as a Square device, they also receive your information. What Are They Doing with Your Info? Why do they want all of this info? What are they doing with it?
Read more