How to remove your information from Spokeo in 2019

Remove Information from Spokeo

Founded in 2006, Spokeo is a website that aggregates data on people. It operates as a people’s search engine and offers various services to individuals and organizations. Family.me is a private social network that offers aggregated social information and people-related data from various sources. There is Spokeo Enterprise a people search service offered to organizations that helps them find, validate, and connect with people. There is also Spokeo for law enforcement which serves as an investigative tool for law enforcement professionals which avails to them public records and social media data on individuals.

(Please note: If you are looking to remove yourself from Spokeo, MyLife, Intelius, and Whitepages at the same time try pleasetakemeoff.com)

How Does Spokeo Get Information?

Contrary to popular belief Spokeo isn’t breaking any law by finding and sharing publicly available information on you. You might not be comfortable with this, but it is legal.

The site uses web scraping software to search for and aggregate information. Like similar websites, they get a majority of their information from publicly available government records and get more to create your profile from sources such as;

• Public Records

• Phone Books

• Social Networks

• Marketing Lists

You should note that if your information is on Spokeo.com, you can find it somewhere else on the web. Even though the company is allowed to publish personal information on their site they also have a legal obligation to fulfill every request for removal.

Why is Having Your Information on Spokeo an Issue?

While some may not be bothered about their information being published on the site there is no denying that there could be some risk of having your personal information available to the public. If someone steals your information they can;

• Steal money from your bank account

• Take over your investments

• Use of your credit cards

• Open utility accounts in your name

• Get medical treatment on your health insurance

• Sell your information on the dark web

While some may consider having their information online relatively harmless, the vast majority don’t want their current residence, phone number, and names of family members being made available to the public.

Apart from the security concerns, everyone should take these listings seriously since they can affect your reputation and professional outlook. If such a site publishes inaccurate information about you; for instance, a bankruptcy or criminal record you know nothing about it may not only damage your reputation, but also affect your career and relationships.

How to Remove Your Information From Spokeo?

Although Spokeo publishes data that is publicly available, they know there are quite a number of people who aren’t comfortable with it. The site, therefore, allows any individual to submit a request for data removal.

Steps:

1. Create an email address for the purpose of this process. You don’t have to use your personal details since its purpose will only be to receive the confirmation email to verify your removal request.

2. Go to Spokeo.com and do a name search and be sure to search for different variations of your name such as your maiden name and nickname.

3. Click on the results that accurately identify you. Select your state and street.

4. Copy the URL of the page that contains all your personal information.

5. Scroll down at the bottom of the page and click on privacy and at the very bottom select opt-out.

6. Once you’ve opened the opt-out form paste the URL of your profile into one text box and into the other your email address.

7. You will get a confirmation email in your inbox or sometimes in the Spam folder. Click on the link to confirm you want to remove the listing.

8. Spokeo limits you to five removals if there are other listings related to you.