How to do all of this yourself, without paying anyone
Consumer Reports found that people who removed their own listings by hand got 70% of them taken down — better than every paid service they tested, including the market leader at 27%. So we wrote out the whole method. It takes 40–80 hours and you have to repeat it, which is the only real argument for hiring us.
Privacy and removal
- Easy10 minutesHow to remove your home address from Google search results
Google will remove search results that expose your home address, phone number, email or government ID numbers. Step-by-step, free, about ten minutes.
- Easy30–45 minutesHow to get your phone number off reverse-lookup sites
Reverse phone lookup sites tie your mobile number to your name and current address. How to remove those listings, and why they matter more than you think.
- Easy45 minutesHow to find out what the internet actually publishes about you
A systematic self-audit: the searches to run, in what order, and how to see what a stranger sees rather than what Google shows you.
- HardWeeks to monthsHow to get a mugshot removed from the internet
Mugshot sites republish booking photos and sell removal. Do not pay them. Here is what actually works, including state laws that ban pay-for-removal.
- Moderate2–4 hoursHow to remove your old addresses from the internet
Address history is one of the most revealing things brokers publish, and it is what identity-verification questions are built on. How to get it down.
- Mostly not possibleVariesCan you remove your property records? Mostly no — here's what you can do
Property deeds and tax assessments are county public records and cannot be deleted. The narrow exceptions, and what actually reduces exposure.
- Easy15 minutesHow to protect yourself from a SIM swap
A SIM swap gives an attacker your phone number, your two-factor codes and your accounts. Three things to do today, all free.
- Moderate40–80 hours for the first passHow to opt out of every data broker for free
The complete free method: which sites to do first, the order that saves time, how long it takes, and why you have to do it again in three months.
- ModerateMultiply one person's effort by the householdHow to remove your family's information, and what you legally can't do
Brokers cross-reference relatives, so removing one person rarely works. What you can do for your household, and the limits on acting for another adult.
- Easy10 minutesHow to file a California DROP request
One filing that reaches every data broker registered in California, backed by a statutory obligation to check it every 45 days. Free, and it takes ten minutes.
- ModerateStart 4–6 weeks before publicationHow to reduce your exposure before a sensitive story publishes
For journalists, researchers and anyone about to become briefly famous: removal before publication is worth an order of magnitude more than removal afterwards.
- Easy2 hoursWhat to do after your data appears in a breach
Breach data is a different problem from broker data and needs different action. What to do in the first 48 hours, and what removal cannot fix.
Records and background checks
- Moderate30–60 days per agencyMy record was expunged but it's still on my background check
An expungement order reaches the court's copy, not the private databases screening companies sell from. How to force them to stop reporting it, with a 30-day federal deadline.
- Easy1 hour to request, 2–4 weeks to receiveHow to get a copy of your own background check, free
Federal law entitles you to a full copy of what every screening company holds on you. Almost nobody asks. Here is how, and what to look for.
- Moderate30 days per disputeHow to dispute an error on your background check
A written FCRA dispute starts a 30-day statutory clock, and anything inaccurate or unverifiable must be deleted. How to write one that works.
- Moderate2–6 weeksHow to find out if your record was already sealed automatically
Thirteen states seal eligible records automatically and none of them write to tell you. How to check whether it has already happened to you.
- ModerateAct within 5 business daysWhat to do when you get an adverse action notice
An adverse action notice means a background check is about to cost you the job. You have a window to respond, and most people waste it.
Or hand the whole list over
Same requests, filed with statutory force where your state provides it, proved with timestamped evidence, re-checked every 45 days forever.