Dear People Search sites…
At BrandYourself, the mission of our data broker monitoring/removal tool is simple; educate people on where their information exists online and provide easy solutions to help them remove it.
One such primary destination is People Search sites, which pose a unique threat to individuals. These sites compile publicly available information about people in a highly accessible database and sell that data to whoever wants it.
While this access can be useful under the right circumstances it also leaves this data potentially exposed to bad actors such as stalkers, identity thieves, hackers, spammers, etc.
As a result, it is our belief that People Search sites should be legally required to allow people to opt out – in all states, not just those with modern online consumer privacy laws – and this process should be FREE and EASY!
The good news is that most People Search sites try to be consumer privacy friendly, providing opt out processes to get personal information removed.
The bad news is that finding and removing yourself from the many People Search sites is difficult and time consuming; finding which sites you’re on, how many records are about you, how to opt out and how to make sure they don’t repost your info, can take days not hours!
As long as these sites respond to public/legal demand to offer opt out processes for those who ask, they are likely here to stay–which still leaves the vast majority of individuals exposed unaware that they are on these sites in the first place!
Can People Search sites help us with our mission?
Given the fact these sites are here to stay, we are constantly asking ourselves ‘how can we be most effective in our mission to educate people on where their data exists and what are their privacy options?’
Firstly, these sites provide a prime opportunity to reach individuals with our message; building awareness that these sites exist, the unique risks they can pose and putting them on the course of remediating the issue.
Secondly, people often find out about these issues by discovering their own information exists on these sites and asking to be opted out. That’s a huge opportunity for People Search sites to take it a step further. Now they know someone doesn’t want their information out there, they could (and should) empower the individual to find and remove themselves from other similar places on the web.
So how can People Search sites help?
People who find themselves on these sites will no doubt go through the process of opting themselves out. However, many people do not know this is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’. Their data likely exists on many, many, more sites, some more prominent than others, and each with their own unique opt out process.
This is where People Search sites could help individuals! Once an individual has opted out of their database, informing them of the many other places their data may live and providing them with free opt out guides and resources like ours (or similar services e.g. DeleteMe) would exponentially increase the amount of individuals exercising their privacy and security rights!
Why would People Search sites help?
We can’t ignore that People Search sites are businesses that profit from the collection and sale of people’s data. But what if we could flip their incentives? Rather than a site doing everything it can to keep as much data as possible, and working against individuals trying to remove this, what if they were now empowering the consumer to protect their privacy? Part of our mission is to incentivize them to do this!
Our message to People Search sites
“Dear People Search sites,
You have the biggest responsibility and opportunity to empower people to take control of their data. As a consumer business, if we truly want to improve privacy for as many people as possible, then we must work with you in order to empower consumers together!
If you honestly have a desire to be consumer privacy friendly, then this is our ask:
- Make opt outs EASY (don’t require multiple steps, or unnecessary/hard to retrieve information) and don’t make the user keep checking for when their data is removed
- Don’t repopulate data once an individual has opted themselves out
- Direct people to resources where they can get free scans and opt out guides to see where else their data may be stored or sold, and promote services that can save them time
Let’s not just wait for consumer privacy laws to catch up with consumer needs. Let’s take the opportunity to create a more balanced landscape, one where individuals are empowered to take more control over their data and one that can only be achieved through working together.
Regards,
BrandYourself”