If you’ve ever searched your name on the Internet, you may be surprised at the amount of personal information that can be found about yourself. Your name, phone number, address, social media accounts or even something more private like your relatives, criminal history or assets details. Sounds scary? In this post, we’ll show you the most effective way to remove your address and sensitive data from the Internet.
1. Delete your address manually
There are different sources that can index and list your address public, whether a people search engine, your blog, social media, or an unknown private website. You could identity where your address shows up and can take corresponding steps to get it removed.
From people search engines
People search engines aggregate public records legally and sell your personal information to anyone at a low fee. These common tools include Spokeo, PeopleFinders and Intelius. If you hope to get your address from their databases, you can go to their websites and request an opt-out.
The process varies from site to site. Some may require you to submit a form, while others can get more complicated. Below we’ll show you how to remove yourself from Spokeo, one of the most known people finders.
1) Go to the Spokeo search page. Enter your name or address and click SEARCH NOW.
2) Wait until Spokeo finds a match. Locate the correct result, right-click the SEE RESULTS button and click Copy link address.
3) Navigate to the Spokeo opt-out page. Paste the link, complete the CAPTCHA and click REMOVE THIS LISTING.
From your blog or social media
Your address can also be available through your blog or social media. For example, you may have published a post that reveals your location without knowing it, or shared the address as part of Contact on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. Whatever the reason, you should delete the post or remove the info from your profile. Also remember to keep your personal information private on social media or online space. Or else it can easily fall into the wrong hands.
If you notice a private website displays your personal information, directly ask the site owner for removal. To reach out, check their Contact us or About page to see if any phone number or email is available. If not, consider looking up the site owner via whois.icann.org to get more clues.
2. Remove your personal info automatically
Removing all your information from the Internet can be a time-consuming process. And you’ll need to repeat this action regularly since the data would be constantly updated online. If you want to save time and effort, give DeleteMe a try. It’s a powerful privacy removal service that can get your private info off a range of main data brokers.
1) Go to the DeleteMe search page. Enter your name, city and click Scan FREE.
2) The scanning can take a couple of minutes. Once done, enter your email address, tick Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and click Reveal My Records.
3) The report will show you where your personal info (phone number, address and more) appears. Then you can remove yourself from certain websites or simply clear it all with one click.
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So this is how to get your address off the Internet. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to share your comment below.