You can lock down your social media accounts, so the public can't see your private information.
You can use masked email accounts, phone numbers, and credit cards to avoid giving away your personal details when you shop.
But there's still a lot about you that's a matter of public record.
Dozens of websites aggregate this data and sell you to anyone who's interested.
And their data can turn up in search results.
If this lack of privacy worries you, you may be ready for Abine DeleteMe.
I mentioned masked email, phone, and credit cards as one protection for your privacy.
Abine Blur Premium offers those, among other features.
You can buy online without ever giving your real email or credit card.
DeleteMe protects a completely different side of your private life.
Its operators actively opt you out from the most active and egregious personal data aggregators, and they keep watch for any that pick up your data again.
That human factor is the reason DeleteMe costs a hefty $129 per year.
It's no simple automated system.
You can knock $29 off the price of adding a family member, if you like.
And paying for two years at once saves $49.
Data Aggregator Basics
Data aggregator sites don't steal your personal info.
Rather, they gather public information that anybody could find, with some digging, and wrap it up in a neat package.
Some aggregators like Spokeo and ZabaSearch have been around for a long time; new ones pop up all the time.
Anybody can use them.
You give them a name and, if possible, a state or other info to narrow the search.
They return just enough data for you to confirm it's who you sought, perhaps an address, or a partial phone number.
Of course, when you click for the details, you find that details aren't free.
These services do more than just that, however.
Google someone's name adding "address" and you're likely to get hits from the aggregators, like "[name] found in 16 states." So, anybody who wants to know where you live, whether it's to send you a bouquet or to picket on your lawn, can very likely find you on the internet through one or more aggregators.
Worried at all?
Note that DeleteMe can't actively remove you from Google search results.
But when the operators remove your data from the aggregators, those sites won't show up in search.
After using DeleteMe I noticed a dramatic decrease in search hits on my name, other than those related to my writing for Daxdi.
Getting Started With DeleteMe
When you sign up with DeleteMe, the first thing you must do, ironically, is give them a bunch of personal information.
It really is necessary, as they can't opt out for you unless they can verify that they're working on your behalf.
After reading the company's privacy policy, I felt reassured.
You enter your full name, with an option to add alternative spellings or other names you use.
Date of birth, gender, email, and primary phone come next.
You can also add alternate phone numbers, or numbers you've used in the past.
Those old phone directory entries never die! Next comes your current address, and any past addresses you care to add.
Finally, and this may seem a little odd, you submit a scan of a government-issued ID with your photo and license number blacked out.
The site explains that some sites require the ID to process the removal, but the redacted version works just fine for this authentication.
Reports and More Reports
Not long after you sign up, you get an initial report.
In my case it showed that all but one of the tracked aggregators did indeed have my information, and that an opt-out request had been sent.
Don't imagine this is an automated process.
DeleteMe employs operators who handle the opt-out process.
The report notes that some aggregators respond immediately, while others are much slower.
For the more responsive sites, about half of them, DeleteMe keeps scanning for your info on a regular basis.
For the rest, it checks before each quarterly report.
That's right, quarterly.
I started this review in June, but didn't feel I could finish it until I got my September quarterly report.
It showed my information was absent from all but one of the sites.
Apparently that one picked up my data again since the previous opt-out.
To all the others, I was an unknown.
Does DeleteMe Work?
The DeleteMe quarterly report included 39 data aggregators, up from 28 in the initial report.
I searched for myself on every single one, with varying results, but in no case did the site find personal information based on my name.
One was having server problems and one required a subscription just to search, but I checked the rest.
Over a dozen sites simply reported they had no data on me.
A couple of those refused to run a search unless I narrowed the focus down to one state, but even with that, they still didn't find me.
Four of the aggregators crowed success; they found me! But in fact, they only found my wife's records, as she doesn't have a DeleteMe subscription.
Some of the sites involved reverse phone lookup, going from a phone number to a name.
I don't have an unlisted number, so I expected all of them to find me, with no shame to DeleteMe.
Most did, but one got the wrong name and one failed.
The rest of the sites listed multiple possible hits, including people with the last name Rubenking who aren't me, or people with first name Neil and a name like Rubinstein.
Some of the lists included my wife, children, siblings, parents, and a sprinkling of uncles and cousins, along with dozens of folks I never heard of.
One site offered me almost 8,000 records of people with the first name Neil; when I forced it to use first and last, it came up with nothing.
Exactly one of the search sites still seemed to find me.
It located my name in the city where I live, and where I lived before.
It displayed my wife's name alongside (with both of our ages incorrect).
I invested a couple bucks to see what details were available.
It did correctly report my current and previous address, and an email address I don't use, but little more.
I should point out that if you have a less unusual name than mine, those sites that list a hundred or so matches will most likely find people with precisely your name.
For example, looking for Daxdi Editor-In-Chief Dan Costa found 100 Costas named Dan, Danny, Dana, Danielle, and so on.
Is DeleteMe for You?
Abine DeleteMe promises to delete your personal data from dozens of the most popular personal data aggregators; as far I can tell, it works.
In the months from when I signed up to the first quarterly report, its list of covered sites grew substantially.
Yes, you could make all the opt-out requests yourself, and keep checking back in case the site picks up your data again.
It's certainly expensive, but maybe paying a bit more than $10 per month to have someone else handle that for you is worth the price.
For most reviews, I work to compare similar products and services.
In this case, I can't.
I don't know of any other service that does the job DeleteMe does.
DeleteMe is for you if you want to make it tougher for random people and businesses to get your personal information.
The Bottom Line
Data aggregators will sell your personal details to anyone who's interested.
Abine DeleteMe keeps dozens of such sites from listing your data, but you'll pay for that protection.
