Removing Your Information from Data Brokers

The Pattern

← Safety Recovered Archive / Safety Data brokers and people-search sites sell your personal information — home address, phone number, email, family members, court records — to anyone who pays. This is how most doxxing happens. The information is already public, already for sale, and already one search away. Removing it is not paranoid. It is basic safety for anyone who has left an abuser. What it is People-search sites (Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, Intelius, Radaris, TruthFinder, and dozens more) aggregate public records, social media, and purchased data into searchable profiles. Data brokers (Acxiom, LexisNexis, and others) sell the same data wholesale. Your address, phone number, relatives, and history are likely on multiple sites right now, available for free or a few dollars. How it is used against survivors ▌ Doxxing. An abuser finds your new address from a people-search site. ▌ Stalking. Your home and workplace are listed publicly. ▌ Impersonation. Family members’ names and connections help an abuser build a profile. ▌ Contact harassment. Your phone number is available to anyone. ▌ Location tracking. Even after moving, your new address appears in records that brokers scrape. What you can do now ▌ Start with the biggest sites. IntelTechniques recommends starting with Spokeo, Radaris, Whitepages, Intelius, BeenVerified, Acxiom, InfoTracer, LexisNexis, and TruePeopleSearch. Removing your data from these trickles down to many smaller sites. ▌ Use the IntelTechniques Data Removal Workbook. It is free, maintained, and lists the exact opt-out link for every major site. Do not pay for removal services when you can do it yourself for free. ▌ Use a burner email. When submitting opt-out requests, use an email address the abuser does not know, not your primary email. ▌ Do not provide more information than required. Some sites ask for a government ID. Use only what the opt-out process requires. Never provide information the site does not already have. ▌ Check your credit. Data brokers pull from credit header data. A credit freeze (see the identity theft guide) limits what header data is available. ▌ Search yourself first. Before opting out, search your name plus your city on each major site to see what is out there. Save screenshots as a baseline. ▌ Use the CCPA if you are in California. California residents can file a single deletion request that all CA-registered brokers must honor. Enforcement began in 2026. ▌ Use GDPR Article 17 if you are in the EU. You have a right to erasure. Email each broker’s privacy contact: “Under Article 17 GDPR, I request that you delete all personal information you hold about me and confirm in writing when complete.” ▌ Expect it to take time. Removals can take days to weeks. Data reappears as brokers re-scrape public records. Plan to re-check every few months. ▌ Do not pay removal services. Paid services charge for what you can do free. They also cannot remove everything. The free opt-out links are the same ones they use. When to get outside help If your abuser is actively using people-search sites to find you, prioritize the biggest sites first and consider working with a domestic violence advocate on a broader safety plan. Some advocates can help with address confidentiality programs (like Address Confidentiality Program in the US) that replace your public address with a substitute on government records. If your information is already being used to threaten, find, or track you, the doxxing guide and stalking guide cover the next response steps. Browse crisis and legal resources → If you know a resource, law, or tool that should be added here, use contact .