The internet is an awesome resource. Whether you’re looking to connect with people or find out more information about a specific subject, it can help.
However, every time you use the internet you’re helping to build a profile of yourself.
Opening an account on social media or with any online business releases vital information, such as your name and address. The more you use the web the bigger your personal profile.
With over 4.66 billion users, the internet has personal information on over half the world’s population.
Once you realize how much personal information is on the web, you’ll want to know the best company to remove personal information from the internet.
The Information Available
You may think that you’re very careful about what you put online and what you share.
However, data brokers are experts and piecing together information about you from a variety of different sources.
Ultimately, they have a complete profile, if it falls into the wrong hands it can cause you a lot of hassle. Here’s the sort of information they can compile on you.
1. Contact Information
Think about how many times you’ve entered your contact information, including your email address, phone number, and even your home address.
You usually supply it when opening an online account or ordering and paying for something online.
2. Demographic Information
Most social media sites will ask you for your date of birth, sex, marital status, and possibly even your race and religion.
Naturally, they can work out your age from this.
Knowing this information will make it much easier to target you with adverts that are likely to appeal.
3. Property Records
You’ve probably mentioned where you live and whether you own your property or not.
Alongside this, public records, which are now available online, will show the number of properties you own or have owned, including any foreclosed properties.
4. Criminal Records
If you’ve ever been caught on the wrong side of the law then law enforcement will record online your mugshots, crime charged with, convictions, and other pertinent facts such as if you’re a registered sex offender.
This information, like most of your personal records, should be kept private.
However, data breaches are becoming increasingly common and data brokers are very good at piecing together everything about you.
The same is true of any records relating to court visits.
5. Financial Records
Your bank has your complete profile, including bankruptcy status, tax liens, and how you operate your accounts.
If these were to be read by others they could easily steal your identity and cause you an array of financial issues.
6. Sensitive Information
An increasing number of public services are accessible on the web.
These can contain a variety of personal information, such as your Social Security number.
7. Employment History
Most people include past and present employers, along with business contacts on their social media files and when they are applying for jobs.
Alongside this, you’re likely to add your education history, details of any driving licenses and hunting permits, and your health information.
That’s enough information for anyone to pretend to be you.
8. Online Activity
Every time you go on the internet you create a trail of breadcrumbs.
Your internet provider will save a list of your browser search history, including the websites you’ve visited, and the purchases you’ve made.
Alongside this there will be details of your hobbies and preferences on your social media sites, giving the data brokers everything they need to know your life better than you know it yourself.
Once you realize how much personal information is stored online you’ll likely want to know how to remove yourself from the internet.Â
Data Brokers
To understand how to remove private information from the internet, you need to be aware of how the information is collected.
Data brokers come in a variety of guises, but in essence, they all do the same thing.
That’s collecting your personal information and then selling your profile, often on the dark web.
Data brokers will search the internet and extract information wherever they can.
Alongside this, they will purchase information from other brokers.
For example, specialist financial brokers will know everything about your financial status, current and past.
A general data broker will collate the information from different brokers to create a surprisingly complex profile of you.
As mentioned, this is then sold.
The only question is who buys it? It can be cyber criminals, businesses that want to increase their customer base through targeted adverts, or even individuals looking to discredit you.
There are thousands of types of data brokers, some of the most common are:
Marketing & Advertising
These brokers aim to collect personal information which will make it easier for companies to target you with personalized and highly attractive offers.
Fraud Detection
These collect personal information to help financial institutions confirm personal information before lending funds.
Risk Mitigation
This type of data broker collects information on purchases and uses it to help decide risk levels.
For example, an individual that buys a lot of luxury goods but has a modest income is likely to be in a lot of debt.
This broker will help ensure they are targeted with high-interest loans.
In contrast, their data collection could discover gym memberships and other health clubs, allowing someone to be offered lower-priced life insurance.
People Search
If you have a few basic details about an individual then this type of data broker can help you find out a lot more.
For example, knowing their name, address, phone number, and date of birth will reveal their education, employment, known affiliations and religion, as well as hobbies, social media profiles, and even financial details.
Best Company To Remove Personal Information From Internet in 2023
Once you appreciate how much personal information is available online and that companies are dedicated to putting it all together, you’ll want to use the best company to remove personal information from the internet.
There are several excellent options.
However, after testing Incogni, Kanary, OneRep, and DeleteMe, I’m confident that one scrubbing service stands out above the rest.
I’ve looked at the price of each service, including the price per data broker per month.
I also checked the number of data brokers each service deals with and the type of brokers.
Alongside this, I looked at how easy they were to use, how often they reported back to me, and how effective the automated process was.
In my opinion, the best company to remove personal information is Incogni.
What Incogni Has To Offer
The Incogni website is well laid out. You’ll be able to read and learn about the service they offer and why it is so important.
That should be enough to convince you it’s worth trying.
Getting started is easy. Simply click the ‘get started’ option at the top of the page.
Then, enter your email and choose a password.
It’s recommended you use the email address you most commonly use when registering with online services.
You’ll then be sent an email to confirm your email address before you move onto the next step and add a few more personal details.
You’re then ready to get started.
As part of the signing-up process you will need to grant Incogni the right to contact data brokers on your behalf.
They will then start doing this.
Every data broker they contact is asked to remove your personal data from their files.
You’ll be regularly updated. All you need to do is log into your account.
You’ll be able to see the number of data brokers that they have asked to remove your data, how many already have, how many requests are still being processed, and how many need further action.
You can log into the Incogni interactive dashboard at any time for an update.
They also email you a progress report every week, ensuring you’re always in the loop.
The cost of Incogni for one year is $6.49 per month. This can be automatically renewed at the end of each year if desired.
During that time Incogni will ensure your personal data is not included in any data broker files.
If you prefer to pay monthly, without any constraints to the duration, the cost is $12.99 per month.
Incogni offers high-level encryption and secure payment processes.
You can pay by credit or debit card and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
It’s worth noting that this service is only open to US, UK, Canadian, Swiss, and European residents.
Incogni has estimated it would take 304 hours for you to manually contact each data broker and request your data be removed.
Their service does everything for you, takes minutes to set up, and will automatically check for new data every month.
If any is found the request to remove information will be refiled with the relevant data brokers.
Incogni has developed an array of algorithms which help them to identify which data brokers are likely to be holding information about you and what information they may have.
This helps them target their requests.
They deal with over 180 data brokers, including an array of people search sites.
The service is excellent and the customer support team are easy to contact, as well as being very friendly and helpful.
However, what really stood out to me was the company’s commitment to protecting my data.
Incogni is aware that many data brokers will re-add your profile after it has been removed.
To counteract this they adopt a proactive approach, they will automatically resend the data removal requests several times throughout the year.
Why You Should Remove Your Personal Information From The Web
Many people say they have nothing to hide so why worry about what personal information is on the internet.
While this is a positive approach, the truth is it’s not about what you have to hide.
It’s about what individuals and businesses can do with your data.
Anyone Can Check Your Data
Thanks to the collection or people search sites, anyone can look you up and find out all your personal details.
You need very little information to look someone up.
That means potential employers, partners, and even colleagues can find out more about you than you want them to know.
Marketing Calls
Your detailed profile shows your hobbies, income, and other information that marketing professionals can use.
They will contact you, often with automated calls, and attempt to convince you to buy their product.
It’s harder to say no when they phrase it perfectly for you.
Targeted Ads
As well as marketing executives calling you to hassle you into buying something, you’ll also receive an array of targeted ads.
While the products may seem appealing, getting a host of targeted ads is annoying and frustrating.
Worse, if you opt to buy anything you’ll get even more ads.
Cybercriminals
By far the biggest threat online is cybercriminals. They generally collect information about individuals and companies.
When they have enough they can target you with a phishing attempt or a more direct shazam.
Both aim to part you from your money.
Cybercriminals can also use your data to steal your identity.
They can obtain credit in your name and keep the funds. You end up liable for thousands of dollars of debt and will find it stressful and time-consuming to resolve the issue.
Disinformation
Having your information so easily available means people can look up your personal beliefs, religion, political affiliation, and much more.
This information can be used to discriminate against you.
Alternatively, it can be used to discredit you or even make you appear to have said something that you didn’t.
Stalkers
Today, it is possible for anyone to be stalked.
The wrong person simply needs to see your social media profile and become obsessed with you.
This is an issue in itself.
However, if your personal information is easy to access online, the problem becomes much more serious.
Summing Up
Your personal information is worth a lot to many different people.
That’s why the data broker industry is worth billions.
Unfortunately, in most cases having your data so accessible is not beneficial to you.
That’s why you need to find the best company to remove personal information from the internet and reduce your personal risk.
I’ve tested several of the best data removal services and am confident that Incogni is the one you should be using.
It’s fast, effective, and keeps you up to date with every stage of the process.
It’s time you signed up and started to protect your data.
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Written by Trevor Cooke
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