What to Know
- Deleting your data from a public search database doesn’t make it inaccessible-just less easy to access.
- Steps to remove data differ depending on site, some of which include Radaris, USA People Search, Whitepages, 411, Private Eye, Intelius.
This guide covers how to remove your personal and public records information from the following databases: Radaris, USA People Search, Whitepages, 411, PublicRecordsNOW, Private Eye, PeopleFinders, Intelius, ZabaSearch, AnyWho, PeekYou, BeenVerified, PeopleSmart, PeopleLooker, Spokeo, TruthFinder, FastPeopleSearch, Nuwber, FamilyTreeNow, TruePeopleSearch, Instant Checkmate, and ThatsThem.
About Public Data Search Engines
If you’ve ever searched for someone on the web, you may have found data gleaned from publicly accessible information. Websites that have this data-including phone numbers, addresses, land records, marriage records, death records, and criminal history-collected and consolidated it from dozens of places and put it in one convenient hub.
Websites that offer this information are not breaking any laws. This is public information, so they function as search engines for public data. Aggregating this information into one place and making it accessible can raise privacy concerns. A simple people search website allows anyone to research your life.
Here’s how you can opt-out of the popular background check and people search websites. You don’t need to pay for your information to be removed.
Deleting your data from these websites doesn’t make it inaccessible-just less easy to access. Someone who knows what they’re doing can still dig it up. Plus, if your information changes (such as your last name or address), these sites might re-add your data since it’s different from what you deleted. It’s almost impossible to permanently remove all traces of your identity from anywhere on the web.
Radaris
To delete your information from Radaris, find yourself in their public records and then verify that you are who you say you are.
Select View Profile on the result that pertains to you. You can use the filtering options to narrow down the results if there are several.
Log in to finish removing your data. You can make a new account right now using the form on the page, or log in with Facebook or Google.
USA People Search
USA People Search lets you fill out a form to review what the website has on you so that you can choose to opt out of their database.
From the USA People Search Opt Out page, enter your email address and agree to the terms, and then select Begin Removal Process.
Open the email from USA People Search and select the link. Your information on their site should be deleted within 72 hours.
Whitepages & 411
Whitepages doesn’t let you edit the information they have on you, nor can you necessarily delete the details. However, they do provide a way to hide your information from their website.
411 uses the same information found on Whitepages, so deleting your personal data through the steps below is how you remove your information from 411, too.
Answer why you want your information to be removed, and then enter your phone number into the space provided so that Whitepages can call you.
Listen to the automated phone call, and when asked, enter into your phone the code that’s displaying on the Whitepages website. Once verification is confirmed, your information will be removed within the next 24 hours.
PublicRecordsNOW & Private Eye
According to these sites, submitting this removal request “can block your records from being shown in many, but not all, of our search results”.
PeopleFinders
Let the page fully load (it might take several minutes), and then once you’re on the checkout page, copy the URL.