The first time I typed my own name into Google, I honestly thought it’d be boring. Maybe my LinkedIn page, a few old business links, some articles I’d written. Instead, what popped up was a bunch of sites with my name, age, old addresses, even the names of family members. It felt invasive — like someone had quietly peeled back the curtain on my life. And the worst part? Some of those pages had little “Remove your info” buttons that led straight to paywalls.
That’s when I realized how deep this thing goes. These people search websites — places like Whitepages, Spokeo, MyLife, BeenVerified, Intelius, and dozens of others — scrape public records, social media, and data broker lists to build profiles. They’re legal because they’re just republishing “publicly available” data. But that doesn’t mean it feels right. It’s one thing for a property deed to sit in a dusty file cabinet at a county office. It’s another thing entirely for your address to show up in Google results under “Find Adam Kombel’s current location.”
I went down the rabbit hole one weekend, determined to see if you could actually remove your data from these sites without paying anyone. And yeah, you can — but it’s a grind. Some of it’s tedious. Some of it’s intentionally confusing. And that’s part of the problem: they know most people will give up halfway through.
So let’s talk about what I learned, because nobody should have to pay to get their privacy back.
First off, you don’t need a subscription or a fancy “data removal” service. The FTC has made it clear that opting out is your right, not a privilege (FTC Data Broker Report). These sites are required to honor removal requests — they just don’t make it easy to find the form. But once you do, it’s pretty straightforward: search for your name, copy the listing’s direct URL, and paste it into the opt-out page.
For example, Whitepages has a suppression request form that works quickly once you verify your email. Spokeo’s opt-out form is similar, though you have to click the confirmation email to finish. BeenVerified and Intelius both use a nearly identical process — find your record, submit the link, confirm. Within a few days, your profile usually disappears from search results.
Here’s where it gets frustrating. You’ll finish removing yourself from five or six of them, feel accomplished, and then Google your name again — only to see ten new sites you’ve never heard of. That’s because most of these companies share data behind the scenes. It’s like cutting one head off a hydra; three more grow back. One record in BeenVerified might feed into TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, and PeopleLooker because they share the same parent company, PeopleConnect.
When I hit that wall, I made a spreadsheet. Name of the site, the link to my record, the opt-out page, and the date I submitted it. I know, it sounds like overkill — but it helped. That’s how I realized some sites quietly re-list you after a few months, especially if your info updates in public databases. So yeah, it’s not “one and done.” You’ll have to check back once or twice a year if you want to stay off the grid.
There are also smaller sites that pretend to be legitimate but exist mostly to sell your data. Some have “premium” removal plans — they’ll charge $30 to “delete” your profile. Don’t pay it. Not only is it unnecessary, but paying might actually confirm your information to them. Stick to the official opt-out pages. The FTC and groups like Privacy Rights Clearinghouse both warn against using paid removal schemes.
One surprising thing I found: some local data gets republished automatically through services that sell property and voter registration information. Those listings often come back after elections or when counties update records. In that case, you can request suppression directly from the source — like your county’s public records office — or submit a formal opt-out request if your state allows it.
There’s a bit of irony in all of this. These companies justify what they do under “transparency” — claiming they help people reconnect or verify others’ backgrounds. But transparency without consent isn’t clarity, it’s exposure. And it’s happening at scale. The Pew Research Center found that nearly 60% of Americans have no idea how much of their personal data is publicly accessible online. Most only discover it after a bad experience — a scam, a spam call, a stranger knowing too much.
I remember one woman emailing me after I posted about this on a forum. She’d paid a third-party “privacy service” almost $300 to remove her info. The service deleted maybe two listings, then ghosted her. When she followed up, they said her “subscription had expired.” She spent an afternoon removing her data manually — for free — and said it was the most empowering thing she’d done all year.
And honestly, that’s the part I love about this process. Yeah, it’s tedious. But it’s also proof that you can take control again. You can reclaim something the internet took without asking. You can’t erase yourself completely — not yet — but you can make it harder for strangers to peer into your life.
If you’re ready to do it, start small. Pick five big ones: Whitepages, Spokeo, BeenVerified, MyLife, and Intelius. Use their opt-out forms, confirm each one, and mark the date. Then set a calendar reminder to check again in six months. That’s it. No subscriptions. No “privacy memberships.” Just persistence.
It’s not a perfect system, but it’s something. And for now, that’s enough. Because privacy isn’t about disappearing — it’s about choosing what to reveal, and when. That choice still belongs to you.
Resources worth keeping bookmarked:
