Your name, home address, phone number, relatives, and estimated income are listed on dozens of websites right now. You did not put them there. Data brokers did.
There are over 500 registered data brokers in California alone. Anyone can find your home address in under 30 seconds. You can remove yourself. It takes work.
Audit Your Exposure First
Google your full name in quotes. Add your city. Click through three pages of results. Then check these sites directly:
- Spokeo · BeenVerified · Whitepages · TruePeopleSearch
- FastPeopleSearch · Radaris · MyLife · PeopleFinders
- Intelius · ThatsThem
Note which ones have your current address and phone number. Those are your priority removals.
Before You Start
Use a burner email. Many opt-out forms require an email and will add it to their records. Create a dedicated address on ProtonMail that is not tied to your real identity.
Expect resistance. MyLife requires a phone call. Whitepages Premium forces you to create an account. Radaris changes its process constantly. These companies profit from your data. They have every incentive to make removal difficult.
Removal is not permanent. Data brokers refresh their databases from public records and resellers. Your information can reappear weeks after you remove it. This is the single biggest problem, and it is why ongoing monitoring matters.
Quick Removals (Under 5 Minutes Each)
ThatsThem — thatsthem.com/optout. Find your listing, click remove, done in 24-48 hours.
FastPeopleSearch — fastpeoplesearch.com/removal. Find your listing, click remove, confirm.
CyberBackgroundChecks — cyberbackgroundchecks.com/removal. Search, submit, done.
Nuwber — nuwber.com/removal. Find record, request removal, verify via email.
Medium Difficulty
Spokeo — spokeo.com/optout. Enter your profile URL, provide email, solve CAPTCHA, confirm via email link.
BeenVerified — beenverified.com/app/optout. Also owns PeopleLooker, NeighborWho, and Ownerly. Opting out should cascade. Verify independently.
Radaris — Search your profile, click "Control Info" then "Remove Information." May require account creation. Process changes frequently.
PeopleFinders — peoplefinders.com/opt-out. Submit the form. Processing takes a few days.
Intelius — intelius.com/opt-out. Also owns TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, and PeopleConnect. Cascade should apply.
TruePeopleSearch — truepeoplesearch.com/removal. Find listing, remove, follow verification steps.
The Hard Ones
MyLife — Call (888) 704-1900. Expect a hold. Tell them you want your public profile removed. They will try to upsell you. Decline.
Whitepages (Free) — whitepages.com/suppression-requests. Requires phone verification via automated call.
Whitepages Premium — Separate from the free listing. Requires account creation to access removal. Counterintuitive, but it is the only path.
Affiliate Networks
Brokers operate in networks. Removing from the parent does not always remove from affiliates.
BeenVerified network: BeenVerified, PeopleLooker, NeighborWho, Ownerly. Opt out of BeenVerified first. Verify the others after 7-10 days.
Intelius network: Intelius, TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, PeopleConnect, iSearch, Zabasearch. Same approach.
Re-Check or Lose Your Progress
30 days: Re-search every site you opted out of. Re-submit anything that reappeared.
Every 90 days: Full sweep. New brokers emerge. Existing ones refresh constantly.
Most people give up here. The initial removal takes 2-4 hours. Ongoing monitoring takes 30-60 minutes per quarter. Skip it, and your data slowly comes back.
California’s DROP Changes the Game — for Californians
California launched the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP) in January 2026. One deletion request goes to every registered broker in the state — over 500 companies.
If you live in the other 44 states without a comprehensive deletion mechanism, you are still submitting individual opt-outs one at a time. DROP may pressure other states eventually. Eventually does not help you today.
What It Comes Down To
The manual process takes 15-20 hours for the initial round, before ongoing monitoring. Automated services cover hundreds of sites but rely on scripts that fail silently. They do not cover facial recognition databases, social media hardening, or the sites that require phone calls.
Dark Scrub handles the removal process manually and verifies every opt-out. A person confirms every profile is gone. We handle the phone calls, the CAPTCHAs, and the re-submissions. We also cover what automated tools cannot: facial recognition opt-outs, photo exposure audits, and social media privacy hardening.
Your personal information is on data broker sites right now. Removing it is tedious and never truly finished. The alternative is leaving your home address and family relationships publicly searchable by anyone with an internet connection.
— J. Daniel, Dark Scrub