Search your own name in a private browser window. If you're like most people, somewhere on the first page or two there's a site offering your home address, phone number, relatives and an "age range" for a few dollars.
It's unsettling, and for some people it's dangerous: doctors, teachers, people leaving abusive relationships, anyone who's had a stranger turn up angry. The good news is that you have more tools to fight it than you did even two years ago. The less good news is that it takes persistence, because the data keeps coming back.
Step 1: See what's out there
Spend twenty minutes making a list. In a private window, search:
- Your full name in quotes, plus your city.
- Your phone number.
- Your email addresses.
- Your home address.
Note every site that shows your details. Most will be people-search sites, also called data brokers. A few might be old forum posts, PDFs or company pages.
Step 2: Use Google's free tool
Google has a tool called "Results about you". From your Google account, you can ask it to remove search results that show your phone number, home address or email, and you can set it up to alert you when new results with your details appear.
Two things to understand:
- It removes the result from Google Search, not the page from the internet. The broker's page still exists if someone goes there directly.
- It's still the single most useful free step, because most people find this stuff through Google.
Step 3: Opt out of the big people-search sites
Each broker has its own opt-out page, usually buried in the footer under "Privacy" or "Do not sell my info". The process is usually:
- Find your listing on their site and copy its URL.
- Go to their opt-out page and paste it in.
- Confirm by email. Use a separate email address for this if you can, so you're not handing a fresh address to a data broker.
Keep a simple spreadsheet: site, date requested, date confirmed, date to recheck. You'll need it, because listings often reappear after a few months when the broker refreshes its data.
Step 4: If you live in California, use DROP
California's Delete Act created something genuinely new: the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, or DROP. Californians have been able to submit a single request through it since January 2026, and it goes to every registered data broker at once.
From August 1, 2026, registered brokers have to start processing those requests, and then check for new ones at least every 45 days. Brokers that don't delete as required face daily fines. It's run by the California Privacy Protection Agency, and the official page is the place to start.
If you're not in California, check your own state or country. Several US states now give residents rights to request deletion from data brokers, and in the UK and EU, data protection law gives you a right to ask for erasure in many situations.
Step 5: Deal with the leftovers
Some results won't be broker listings:
- Old social profiles. Log in and delete, or make them private.
- Company or club pages. Email the site owner and ask. People are usually happy to help.
- News articles. Harder. In the EU and UK you can ask search engines to delist certain results under the "right to be forgotten", which is weighed against public interest. Elsewhere, focus on adding better, more current results about you.
- Reviews of you. If you're a professional who gets reviewed by name, that's a different job. Our guide for doctors and dentists covers the reply side.
Step 6: Keep it from coming back
Removal isn't a one-off. Set a reminder to rerun your searches every three months. Turn on Google's alerts. And reduce what you give away going forward:
- Use a PO box or virtual address for deliveries and sign-ups where you can.
- Use a separate phone number for shopping and loyalty programmes.
- Untick "share with partners" boxes, which is where a lot of broker data starts.
Should you pay someone to do this?
Paid removal services do the opt-outs for you and keep rechecking. They save a lot of time, especially if you're on dozens of sites. They can't do anything you legally can't do yourself, so it's a question of time versus money. Be wary of anyone promising to "remove everything from the internet". That's not something anyone can promise.
Reputfy's Personal plan, which we're currently piloting, scans for your name across search and the major people-search sites, files the removal requests for you, and alerts you when something reappears. If that sounds useful, you can start a free audit and choose Personal when it asks what you're protecting.
What this won't fix
None of this removes information that's legitimately public, like court records in many places, or things you've posted yourself under your name. And it won't stop someone determined who already knows where you live. If you're worried about your safety, talk to the police or a support organisation first. Removal helps. It isn't a shield.
