In the Privacy Guides Knowledge Base, topics such as account deletion and creation are discussed, however, why is personal information removal from data brokers not discussed? Is this important, and should I do it?
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It should, atleast how can one do it DIY. Googling, filing DMCA’s, deleting old account etc.
And 1-2 service recommendations heard jonah was trying / researching a bunch.
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I believe this is a topic that is currently being researched by @jonah (not sure if that is for PG, for his channel, or for something else).
I’d guess one factor that makes it hard to research/write about these services is that it is not exactly an easy thing to test, since (1) these services are intended to be used over ≥ 1 year for best results, and (2) it is hard to do a comparative real world test, since once you’ve used one data removal service to remove your data, you can’t exactly try and compare all the others since the first service has already taken care of all the low hanging fruit, and each subsequent service you test will have less and less of an online footprint to find and eliminate.
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I did some cursory research and was not impressed. It seems these services, which tend to cost ~$150/year, are little more than breach monitoring and sending request form letters to data brokers.
Here is (supposedly) a redacted example of a Privacy Bee data broker email:
To Data Protection Officer or Legal Counsel:
I am hereby submitting a follow-up to a personal data request pursuant to Section 1798.105 of CCPA (SB-1121), Article 17 of GDPR, Nevada SB-220, New Hampshire HB 1680-FN, Washington Privacy SB-5376, Illinois DTPA SB2330, New York S5462, Hawaii SB 418, North Dakota HB 1485, Massachusetts S-120, Maryland SB 613, Texas Privacy Protection Act HB 4390, or other applicable right-to-be-forgotten legislation. If you feel my data is exempt from privacy legislation for any reason, I’m still asking you to respect my wishes regardless, as I believe privacy is a universal human right and I’m hopeful the integrity of your organization will honor my request with or without legal requisite.
The initial request was sent UTC and I still have not received a response that my request has been fulfilled. This is a reminder that you only have 5 days left to respond!
Specifically for “MY COMPANY”:
Data Deletion: I hereby request the immediate and complete purging of any and all information your company has on me including but not limited to: user accounts, marketing data, transaction data, behavioral data, social data, CRM records, or absolutely anything that that contains my personal information.
No Dissemination: if any information is being or has been disclosed, resold, licensed, rented, or otherwise disseminated by your company to third parties, I hereby request to opt-out of that data sharing, and request you communicate this request for opt-out and deletion to those entities as well.
If I have given consent to the processing of my personal data (e.g. according to Article 6(1) or Article 9(2) GDPR, or other applicable legislation), I am hereby withdrawing said consent. In addition, I am objecting to the processing of personal data concerning me (which includes profiling).
As I’m legally permitted, please confirm your compliance of my request without undue delay and in any event within one month of receipt of this request.
I am including the following information necessary to identify me:
Name:
Primary Email:
Primary Phone: xxx (Mobile)
Secondary Phone: yyy (Home)
Primary Address: specific home address
Birthday: Detailed date of birthIf you require additional information to resolve my identity, to view my signed Power of Attorney authorizing this request, or to respond to this request, please visit: https://app.privacybee.com/request/xyz
If you do not answer my request within the stated period, I and my legal privacy advocate, Privacy Bee, are reserving the right to take legal action against “MY COMPANY” and to lodge a complaint with the responsible supervisory authority.
Thank you.
here’s everything you really need to know IntelTechniques Data Removal Workbook
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Thanks
I am a bit confused reading the four part article you (@Dwindle5975) linked me. Could anyone provide a brief summary on what I need to do?
I am based in Australia, the article seems to pertain to America.
Some information is now published here:
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I would like there to be more detailed instructions on how to do this properly as the opt-out process itself is sleazy and requiring you to enter tons of personal information directly.
InfoTracer gives a dubious bug when trying to opt out.
Intelius treats your opt out request as a sales funnel, giving a dubious 2 minute animation of searching records before telling you to view the report for $0.99.
Then when you click around for links and find the real site, you get an intentionally broken opt-out site that gives you a non-descript APIError if you try to suppress but not if you try to display.
Peopleconnect (Intelius)
