If you were to google yourself and add a small piece of information like a city where you live or middle name, what would you find? If you’re with the majority you’ll likely find a disconcerting amount of information. Maybe even your current address. In a world with viscous online pranks and scams, news like this often makes people want to remove any information they have on the web.
While removing ALL of your data online can be a difficult task Web Privacy Forum has built a list of opt-outs you can use to get some or most of your data erased. The organization has an extremely detailed opt-out list for data brokers, with the respective links and steps needed to remove your info from the companies’ clutches.
But if that’s not enough, Stop Data Mining Me, a website that bills itself as the “Do Not Call” list for data brokers, has its own opt-out list. Consumer Reports also has a helpful list of its six recommended opt-outs.