Right now, companies you've never heard of are selling your home address, phone number, email, relatives' names, and estimated income to anyone willing to pay. These companies are called data brokers, and removing yourself from their databases is legal, free, and something you can do in a single afternoon.
What Data Brokers Know About You
Data brokers aggregate information from public records, social media, purchase histories, loyalty programs, and dozens of other sources. A typical broker profile includes your full name, current and past addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, estimated income and net worth, family members' names, property ownership records, and political party affiliation. This data is sold to marketers, recruiters, scammers, stalkers, and anyone else who wants it.
The DIY Approach: Manual Opt-Out
Every major data broker is legally required to honor opt-out requests. The process is tedious but straightforward — you visit each site, find your profile, and submit a removal request. Here are the highest-priority brokers to start with, since they feed data to hundreds of smaller sites downstream.
The Top 8 Brokers to Remove Yourself From
Spokeo — search for yourself at spokeo.com, copy the URL of your listing, then submit it at spokeo.com/optout. Removal takes 24-48 hours.
WhitePages — find your listing, click "Claim this listing," then follow the removal flow. They require phone verification. Removal takes 24 hours.
BeenVerified — go to beenverified.com/app/optout/search, find your listing, and submit. Removal takes up to 24 hours.
Intelius — visit intelius.com/opt-out, find your record, and request removal. This one can take up to 72 hours.
FastPeopleSearch — find your listing at fastpeoplesearch.com, click "Remove This Record," and confirm via email. Usually processes within a few hours.
TruePeopleSearch — find your profile, click "Remove This Listing," complete the CAPTCHA, and confirm. Same-day removal in most cases.
Radaris — this one requires creating an account to opt out (annoying but necessary). Use a disposable email. Go to radaris.com, find your profile, and follow the removal steps.
PeopleFinder — visit peoplefinder.com/optout, search for yourself, and submit. Processing takes 24-48 hours.
The manual process across all eight brokers takes roughly 2-3 hours the first time. The problem is that your data gets re-listed every few months as brokers re-aggregate from their sources. Plan on re-checking quarterly.
The Automated Approach: Paid Services
If you don't want to manually opt out every quarter, paid removal services handle it for you. They submit opt-out requests on your behalf and continuously monitor for your data reappearing.
| Service | Sites Covered | Re-check Frequency | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeleteMe | 750+ | Quarterly | ~$129/year | Most comprehensive |
| Kanary | 400+ | Monthly | ~$89/year | Budget option |
| Optery | 350+ | Continuous | ~$149/year | Real-time monitoring |
Which Approach Is Right for You
If you have a free afternoon and don't mind repeating the process quarterly, the manual approach works and costs nothing. If your time is worth more than the subscription cost, or if you want peace of mind that your data stays removed, a paid service makes sense. DeleteMe covers the most sites and has the longest track record. Kanary is the budget pick. Optery offers continuous monitoring instead of periodic sweeps.
How to Check If It Worked
After submitting opt-out requests, wait 48-72 hours, then Google your full name in quotes along with your city. Check the first three pages of results. Visit each of the eight broker sites directly and search for yourself. If your listings are gone, the opt-outs worked. Set a calendar reminder to re-check in 90 days.
Ongoing Maintenance
Data broker removal is not a one-time fix. Your information will reappear as brokers re-aggregate data from public records and other sources. The quarterly re-check is essential whether you use the manual or automated approach. Over time, repeat opt-outs do seem to stick better — brokers are less aggressive about re-listing people who have opted out multiple times.