Do data removal services actually work?

Questions
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Hey everyone, I’m new here and don’t know a great deal about online privacy yet, but I had a question that’s become increasingly important to me.

Do data removal services actually work? And if so, are there any you’d personally recommend?

I’ve been thinking more about online privacy lately, especially with how quickly technology and AI are advancing. It feels like we’re moving further into a digital world, and while that brings plenty of benefits, it also seems to make our personal information increasingly accessible.

Between spam calls, scams, identity theft, and the amount of personal information available online, I’ve started to realise just how important protecting that information is.

Ideally, I’d like to find a reliable service that helps remove my personal information from the internet and keeps monitoring for it, so I can have some peace of mind knowing I’m doing what I can to protect myself.

My thinking is that the less personal information there is about me online, the less exposed I might be to spam, scams, and potential identity theft.

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences, particularly if you’ve used one of these services yourself. Are they genuinely effective, or are there better ways to go about this?

Thanks in advance!

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If you live in a state where they give you the right to request deletion of your data, which is thankfully more than just California now, you can probably do that, and if they hold onto it, then they’re in trouble.

Note that just because a removal service says they found your data on a site doesn’t mean that it’s actually on that site. There can be false positives.

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(post deleted by author)

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Their utility will most likely vary according to one’s digital footprint, location[1], etc.

PG did a real-world test with EasyOptOuts, a service they officially recommend[2]. I would be interested in more real-world tests from PG with these kinds of services. I wonder how difficult it is to get grants for these kinds of experiments.

  1. Data removal rejected because of location ↩︎

  2. Data Removal Services - Privacy Guides ↩︎