Have you ever searched for your personal information online? There are dozens of “people search sites” out there, but a simple Google search can also find information about you, too. Behind the scenes, there are hundreds if not thousands of data brokers who are scouring the web constantly for your info creating dossiers on all of us, for sale to anyone willing to pay. We have no federal privacy laws in the US, but even if you live in the EU (with GDPR) or a US state with some privacy protections (like California), you still may find your data online – because much it comes from public records, including voting records, property tax records, and legal filings. How do you find your data? Where did it come from? And more important, what can you do about it? Today will discuss this and more with Ben and Tyler, the founders of data deletion service EasyOptOuts.

Interview Notes

• EasyOptOuts: https://easyoptouts.com/ 


• Consumer Reports study: https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/personal-information/services-that-delete-data-from-people-search-sites-review-a2705843415/ 


• Brian Krebs on Radaris: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/03/a-close-up-look-at-the-consumer-data-broker-radaris/ 


• My blog series on data removal: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/osint-reconnaissance/ 


• Jason Edison OSINT interview: https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2024/07/22/open-source-intelligence/ 


• Big Ass Data Broker Opt Out List: https://github.com/yaelwrites/Big-Ass-Data-Broker-Opt-Out-List 

Further Info

• Help me reach more people! https://fdsd.me/awareness2


• Send me your questions! https://fdsd.me/qna 


• Check out my book, Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons: https://fdsd.me/book 


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• Become a patron! https://www.patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons 


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• Give the gift of privacy and security: https://fdsd.me/coupons 


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• Generate secure passphrases! https://d20key.com/#/ 

Table of Contents

Use these timestamps to jump to a particular section of the show.

• 0:01:04 : Staying up to date during December


• 0:01:45 : NPR shout out?


• 0:02:25 : Interview setup


• 0:04:11 : Why did you get into the data deletion business?


• 0:05:58 : How does EasyOptOuts differentiate its service?


• 0:09:35 : Where do these data brokers get all my information?


• 0:13:37 : How often do you find errors in people’s information on these sites?


• 0:15:36 : What are the names of some of the top data brokers? Would we know them?


• 0:17:34 : Will a credit freeze prevent data sharing?


• 0:19:02 : What does it cost to get these people reports?


• 0:21:21 : Have you tried deleting data from the recently breached National Public Data?


• 0:23:02 : How do the various US state privacy laws impact our ability to delete our data?


• 0:27:52 : How many data brokers operate in non-US/EU jurisdictions?


• 0:29:00 : Who is selling my data that would surprise me?


• 0:31:26 : How did we consent to this data sharing and can we opt out?


• 0:34:14 : If I wanted to try to clean up my data myself, how would I go about that?


• 0:38:09 : How do I avoid giving away more information while I try to prove my identity?


• 0:41:34 : If I would rather use a deletion service, how does that work and what does it cost?


• 0:46:39 : After deletion, will my data just be replenished after some amount of time?


• 0:48:01 : Any final pro tips on reducing my public data?


• 0:51:02 : Interview wrapup


• 0:53:26 : Patron bonus content preview


• 0:54:05 : Plan for December shows