Reclaim Your Privacy From The Internet's Data Brokers With DeleteMe

This content was paid for by DeleteMe and written by SlashGear

The online landscape is full of bad actors who want to sell your information and treat you like a data point instead of the living, breathing human that you are. If you've been on the internet for any period of time, you've undoubtedly created a sizable digital footprint full of all of your personal information that you've willingly (or even unwillingly) provided. Reportedly, upwards of 2,400 bits of personal information from any Average Joe will hit the internet over the course of two years.

Trying to corral and find that information, much less prevent it from getting into the wrong hands is a daunting task for anyone. Fortunately, there are active online services like DeleteMe that can help you get your information out of the hands of online ne'er do wells. According to its site, DeleteMe is "a hands-free subscription service that will remove your personal information that's being sold online."

DeleteMe has a team of experts that trawls the internet searching for data brokers who collect your data and sell it. The team removes your private information from more than 750 sites, ranging from people search databases to local news sites. DeleteMe even does custom requests for specific websites.

It's worth asking the question: "What are data brokers, and why do I want my information out of their hands." Data brokers, in short, are organizations that collect personally identifiable information online from any and all sources and then sell it to advertisers and the like. Here's the wrinkle though. According to DeleteMe, data brokers can make it much easier for bad actors to steal your identity and wreak all kinds of havoc in your name.

This can kill your credit score, hurt potential job applications, and no one really wants everyone who has an internet connection to have a hold of your personal data. It's a privacy nightmare. That's where DeleteMe's services come in.

Signing up for DeleteMe is really straightforward. Once you create an account, you're greeted with a dashboard that shows you all of the data DeleteMe's team has found and deleted from the databases of data brokers. The first data report upon signing up takes seven days to complete. But before you take hold of your data and get your online privacy in check, you have to create a data sheet to send to DeleteMe, so the team knows what to look for. 

On the outset, it may seem like there's a lot of data to input, but that not only shows how thorough data brokers are at finding out every marketable (or steal-able)  piece of information about you, but also how exhaustive DeleteMe's team is. Don't worry, the information you give to DeleteMe isn't going to some server farm somewhere to get sold off, it's explicitly for the purpose of deletion. Plus, a lot of the data is voluntary, meaning that you only give information you're comfortable giving.

On the first slide of the data sheet, you'll be prompted to give your name and date of birth. That's all fairly standard in the rigamarole of creating online accounts. But you can also list alternate names you've used. Perhaps you've legally changed your name or have used a professional pseudonym in your life or line of work. DeleteMe's team understands those complexities and uses that information you provide to make things right.

You can also list maiden names, common misspellings of your name or nicknames. No piece of information is too trivial to list because online villains will use whatever information they can find, no matter how obscure or inconsequential you might think it is. DeleteMe can also track your current or past email addresses to ensure that the information isn't listed on any databases you don't want it appearing on. DeleteMe's team can do the same for phone numbers.

Occasionally, the more established data brokers will require an email address before your information can be queried and subsequently deleted. By providing DeleteMe with the primary email address you use to sign up for services online, the team can do the legwork for you and ensure that you aren't spending hours of your time. 

On the more extreme end, DeleteMe can also delete your data that requires a government issued ID to access and eliminate. From a privacy standpoint, you'd be smart to question why you would need to upload a picture of your ID to the internet. But for DeleteMe, it uses that ID to delete data you don't want out there, Very rarely, data brokers require an ID to access and delete data. 

Unlike people who want your data for nefarious deeds, DeleteMe isn't going to make fun of the haircut on your driver's license or try to buy a speedboat or expensive set of golf clubs with your information. This specific information is not only voluntary, it's for the purpose of deleting or otherwise safeguarding your data.

After optionally giving DeleteMe authorization with your ID and email address to query data brokers on your behalf, you can list your current and past employers to ensure the accuracy of the data DeleteMe is looking for. It's also optional, but not only shows the rigorous lengths that data brokers will go through to trawl the internet like a fishing boat to get every single scrap of valuable data, but also the exhaustive measures that DeleteMe's team goes through to collect that same data and wipe it off the face of the internet.

In the same vein, you have the option of adding your family members to your data sheet. Data linked back to you may not be listed under your name, but the names of your family members. Provided that you give that information, DeleteMe will look for that information in the hands of data brokers. 

After all the data is submitted to DeleteMe, you are then asked to digitally sign an authorization form that allows DeleteMe's team to " act as my authorized agent for the sole purpose of performing the DeleteMe service." This is important to allow DeleteMe to actually complete the service you are paying for.

Next, there's the question of price. For one person, a year of DeleteMe's services cost $129 a year. That factors to $10.75 a month. There are also couple and family plans. The couple plan for two people costs $229 a year and the family plan for four people costs $329 a year. 

You're paying for not only the services of an entire team of experts who do nothing but search the recesses of the internet for your precious data, but the convenience of not having to do all of that legwork completely by yourself. DeleteMe reports that it has done more than 20,000 hours of collective work removing data since it started in 2011.

With a subscription, you get a personal DeleteMe expert for all of your custom deletion requests and questions. Additionally, you get access to quarterly privacy reports that give you more granular detail on where your data was rescued and deleted from. The company reports that it can remove more than 15 Google results for your name within just days of signing up for the service.

On the accountability end, DeleteMe not only offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all of its services, it has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and a 4.7 out of 5 from over 800 reviews. It's safe to say that DeleteMe knows what it's doing. 

If you value your privacy and the sanctity of your personal data and want it gone from the hands of data brokers who shouldn't have access, DeleteMe is the service for you and your data.