Getting yourself off people-search sites

Search your own name plus your town. Somewhere in the results there is likely a site offering your age, your previous addresses, and the names of people you live with.

That is a data broker. They compile public records, the electoral roll, company filings and purchased marketing data into a profile and sell access to it.

Why it matters

It is the raw material for impersonation. Knowing your address, your age and your mother's name is what makes a scam call convincing. It is also how security questions get answered.

It powers the "I know where you live" email. The address in a sextortion email almost always came from one of these, not from a hack. Worth knowing before you panic — see sextortion.

It is how stalkers and abusers find people. For someone who has left a dangerous relationship, this is not abstract.

The UK position

UK GDPR gives you a right to erasure, and data brokers are subject to it. Most have a removal form because handling requests is cheaper than arguing.

The open electoral register is a separate thing and one of the biggest sources. You can opt out of it at any time, free, by contacting your local council's electoral services and asking to be removed from the open register. You stay on the full register and keep your vote; you come off the version sold commercially.

Do that one first. It turns off a tap rather than mopping the floor.

Doing it yourself

1. Search for yourself — name plus town, name plus old address, name plus phone number. Note every site that appears. 2. Find their opt-out. Look for "do not sell", "opt out", "remove my information" or the privacy notice, usually in the footer. 3. Send a deletion request where there is no form:

> I am exercising my right to erasure under Article 17 of the UK GDPR. Please delete all personal > data you hold about me and confirm when this has been done. Please also confirm the source from > which you obtained it.

That second sentence is a subject access right and it is useful — it tells you which tap to turn off next.

4. They have one month. If they ignore you, complain to the Information Commissioner's Office. Free, and effective. 5. Check again in six months. Brokers re-acquire data from the same sources, which is why step one above matters more than the removals.

Paid removal services

Services like DeleteMe and Incogni will do this repeatedly for a subscription.

Worth it if: you have a safety reason, a public-facing job, or you simply will not do it yourself repeatedly.

Not worth it if: you were going to do the electoral register opt-out and half a dozen forms. That is most of the benefit for an hour of your time.

Avoid: anything that contacts you offering removal, and anything promising to delete you from the internet. Nobody can do that.

The realistic goal

Not invisibility, which is not available. The goal is to make casual lookup harder and to stop the easiest sources refreshing, so that someone wanting your details has to work for them rather than paying £3 to a website.