A few weeks ago I was attempting to establish an online account for my companies benefit portal. You'are thinking easy peasy right - yeah, me too - it was not. A few security questions popped up with a list of people I was supposed to know or be related to - problem, is I was not and have never been. I got locked out and an error that my identity could not be verified I needed to call.
That call was a 20-minute call in which I had various hoops to jump through to prove who I was. Annoying but done with and I thought not much about it. Frankly, in the midst of everything I was trying to accomplish while activating my online account in the portal, I thought for privacy sake the first names of my 'known associates" were perhaps jumbled and I said no to quickly and I wrote off the whole incident.
Fast forward to yesterday when I sat down to do some social media vetting for candidates and I simply Googled the first one to start, just to see where that went and I landed on a website that laid out so much information it was unreal. So I entered my name. What popped up was former addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and that "known associates and relatives" list that was ALL incorrect. The very list that I lost 20 minutes out of a day for to jump through hoops just to prove who I was because I did not know the people a website said I did. EXCUSE ME what?? This is not even a legitimate background check that one would pay for to obtain a security clearance for a job, or even a TSA screen for a precheck pass. Just some damn website some guy decided to put up to data farm intel on people.
I then started the process last night of looking and requesting my private information be taken off websites. Some of them it is very easy just opt out on their form and you're done, others you have to prove it's you wanting your information down, but they will take it down. The site that gave me all the issues - they want you to pay a monthly membership fee to have the privilege of keeping your information yours.
According to them its all public information and they give you a hard time when you request the removal. I'm fighting that one, it is not public information - and 75% of it is wrong. However, for the right price, anyone can pay them to give up your address, your phone number, your email addresses, who your neighbors are. That is information that just should not be up for sale, nor up to anyone else to decide who can have it. There is a safety issue involved here, what is keeping the person who has gotten out of a bad situation safe - when some guy decides to make his fortune off YOUR personal information, he decides your information has a price tag on it - either from you to keep it locked or from the person who wants to know where you are and how to find you.
Check your footprint - check often.
This guide helped me to remove a lot of my info, I used the tips for doing it myself. I just clicked each of the websites and read the information they have complied. I found most useful is that they had the opt-out links right there whereas the sites bury them - the one site that gave me a hard time and refuses to take my info off, I filed an FTC complaint about and one with my states Attorney General
Safe Shepherd
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