There are companies that collate all of this information, and sell it to other providers. In fact, this industry is worth billions, with companies spending obscene amounts just to gather more data about customers that fall within different demographics. If you’re wondering how to delete your personal information from the internet, companies like Abine DeleteMe can help. Their Privacy Information Removal Service can help you in scrubbing your private information off the web. In this DeleteMe review, we look at how this company can purge your details from the most prolific data broker sites while making sure that you stay off these lists. Here’s our full review.
DeleteMe Review: A Brief Summary
DeleteMe is one of the top cybersecurity tools that helps you purge personal information that has been captured by data brokers. As long as data broker websites have your data, you’re unlikely to ever be free from marketing spam. But DeleteMe intends to change that. DeleteMe offers a free scan in case you’re interested in trying out the service. Once you subscribe, you’ll get a quarterly report to make sure that your data hasn’t been picked back up by any brokers. The company also provides DIY guides, showing you exactly how you can remove your data from different brokers. With enough time and motivation, you can do it yourself, for free. There are no notable security or privacy concerns. That said, it’s worth bearing in mind that the privacy policy is vaguely worded. Ironically, it doesn’t clarify if the company shares your data with third-party service providers. If you do have any concerns, reaching out to DeleteMe’s customer service team is simple. A live chat feature is available, and the team will respond between 9 AM – 5 PM EST. DeleteMe will cost you $129, which includes protection and monitoring for one year. Their most popular plan comes out to $229 and offers protection for two people for a year. At the time of writing, DeleteMe covers 580+ data brokers, which is quite significant, but it’s difficult to verify how effective DeleteMe is in reaching all these brokers. All in all, we appreciate DeleteMe’s hybrid approach towards removing your personal data from the web. Want to give DeleteMe a try yourself? Check it out below!
Pricing: How Expensive is DeleteMe?
DeleteMe offers different subscription plans based on the number of users and the length of your plan. You can choose to scrub the data of one to five people under a single subscription. Beyond that, you can opt for either a yearly subscription or a plan for two years. If you choose the two-year plan that covers two or more people, you will get a 40% discount under current pricing. The cheapest subscription is $129 annually, while the most expensive costs over $600. In general, you get better value for money when you choose a two-year plan and make a single payment biennially (once every two years). Bear in mind that, at present, you cannot pay monthly. The annual or biennial price you see is what you’ll be charged. To be fair, DeleteMe offers a one-time service with options for fixed reviews of your data while you’re subscribed.
Get a free DeleteMe scan
You can also get a free DeleteMe scan, albeit with a more limited selection of data brokers than the full version. Simply type in your first and last name on DeleteMe’s site, and it will find out which data brokers — from a pool of 40+ brokers — have your information. Note that if your browser is hiding your location, you may need to disable that protection temporarily. DeleteMe’s website uses location services to determine your location and offer you the most accurate results in their free scan.
Keep in mind that this free scan only shows you a (limited) list of data brokers that store your data. If you actually want DeleteMe to send out data removal requests in your name, you’ll need to get a paid subscription. So, what exactly do you get with a subscription to DeleteMe? What makes a privacy information removal service worth the investment? Below, we pop the hood and take a look at the process in more detail.
Privacy: How Does DeleteMe Handle Your Data?
DeleteMe doesn’t require you to install any software on your computer, which minimizes the risk to you and your device. Everything is managed through your personal dashboard on their site. That said, DeleteMe is a privacy information removal service, which means that it specifically deals with your personally identifiable information (PII). It also means that DeleteMe will gather more of your personal information than your typical cybersecurity company. That’s why we looked at DeleteMe’s privacy policy and how it uses your data.
What data does DeleteMe collect?
DeleteMe is headquartered in the United States. Generally speaking, the US isn’t the most secure place for data management and storage. Legal processes exist — for example, warrants — that can force firms to hand over user data to the government. This has been the case with some companies in the past. There’s nothing to suggest that DeleteMe would be put in this position, but it’s something we believe readers should know. DeleteMe highlights the information collected from you in their privacy policy. Personal information collected as you use their services may include:
Contact information, such as your name and surname, email, phone number, occupation, and employment details Profile information, including your login credentials and account preferences Feedback or correspondence, including information sent to the company in any feedback, customer support request, or otherwise Datasheet information, including your first, middle, and last names; date of birth; gender; email addresses; phone numbers; addresses; relatives’ names’; employers; ethnicity, and political affiliation
Bear in mind that you’ll be asked for proof of identification from DeleteMe in order to handle your removal request. According to the DIY guides available on DeleteMe’s website, some brokers do require a government-issued identification document. DeleteMe specifies that the company may also collect data on your usage of the service, marketing preferences, and “other information,” which isn’t explicitly explained further. However, there’s nothing out of the ordinary here in terms of standard privacy statements.
Why does DeleteMe collect my data?
While the data collected might seem excessive, DeleteMe needs this information to offer you its services. The more information that you provide in their form, the more data points that DeleteMe can search against. Remember, while some brokers might have your name, date of birth, and address, others may have more information, including your previous address, and your relatives’ names. No two lists are necessarily the same. If you’d rather go for a data removal service that doesn’t collect all of this information about you, we suggest giving Incogni a try.
DeleteMe’s privacy policy
DeleteMe’s privacy policy is fairly standard as far as most companies’ policies go. Such policies usually follow a similar format across the board, and DeleteMe has covered its bases with regard to the use of customer data. That said, it’s worth bearing in mind that one segment is worded in a vague manner: “Professional advisors. We may disclose your personal information to professional advisors, such as lawyers, bankers, auditors, and insurers, where necessary in the course of the professional services that they render to us.“ While most companies set out how they’ll work with professional service providers, this phrasing is generally quite vague. It’s more than likely that this isn’t intentional and needn’t cause concern. “Third party service providers. We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include fulfilling orders for products or services, delivering packages, sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analysing data, providing marketing assistance, providing search results and links (including paid listings and links), processing payments, transmitting content, assessing and managing credit risk, and providing customer service.“ Perhaps if DeleteMe expanded on the situations in which they may share your data with third parties, it could offer greater clarity. That said, it doesn’t cause any major concern. Their privacy policy also highlights how some brokers may “suppress” your data instead of deleting it. We reached out to the DeleteMe team for clarification on what exactly this meant, though we’ve not yet received any explanation.
Who does DeleteMe share my data with?
DeleteMe does state that they will share your data with other data brokers. Without sharing your data, they wouldn’t be able to communicate with the brokers and process your request. They may also send you marketing communications. Again, there’s nothing else concerning within the privacy policy with how they use your data. DeleteMe explicitly states that they won’t share your personal information with third parties without your consent.
Usability: How User-Friendly is DeleteMe?
We found DeleteMe’s user experience quite easy and approachable, with no overly complex menu systems bogging you down. What’s more, without any software to install, it’s very easy to create an account. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the key points we’ve drawn:
Hubspot’s website grader gave DeleteMe top marks for security, though less for speed and performance. In our experience, the website still loaded quickly with no errors. Navigation is straightforward and simple. DeleteMe is very transparent, providing DIY data removal guides and a Help Center. Pricing is clearly mentioned, with no hidden fees.
How user-friendly is the DeleteMe website?
Right off the bat, the DeleteMe website works well and is easy on the eyes. The homepage clearly sets out how the company operates, including examples of PII that can be removed. You’ll also see some scroll bars that highlight positive customer feedback, in addition to some social proof from other companies that use DeleteMe. As you might expect, the company uses a secure HTTPS connection, which is the standard for almost all websites. The site is also using secure Javascript libraries, reducing the chances of a malicious third party trying to exploit vulnerabilities in an attack.
How to sign up for a DeleteMe account
Registering on the site is fairly easy and is a matter of a few clicks at most.
Now that you’ve got your account, you’re ready to start scrubbing your information from the web.
How to log into your DeleteMe dashboard
Now, you should be able to see your own personal dashboard.
Your custom DeleteMe report
Once you’ve submitted your initial application data to DeleteMe, you’ll have to give it a little time before receiving your custom report. Since DeleteMe agents search for and remove your data manually, it’s understandable that the typical wait for your report is up to seven days. To really test out this service, one of our US-based editors submitted their own data for consideration. Bear in mind that here at VPNOverview, we are serious about security. As avid users of VPNs and other privacy software who are constantly reading up on phishing scams and online security habits, we believed our editor’s information was reasonably well protected. Boy, were we wrong!
The start of the report gives you an overview of the search results found by the DeleteMe team, including:
The total number of records reviewed for your data (16,601) How many data brokers have your data before removal (53) The number of records removed from data broker lists (100) The number of individual data points that make up the records located (650)
Interestingly, DeleteMe also estimates the amount of time saved by using their service. Filling out the application only took a few minutes, while DeleteMe estimated that they saved us around 11 hours. We were fortunate to receive our report on the same day that it was commissioned. That said, we understand why it might take longer. Some brokers make it purposely difficult to remove your data.
Reading your DeleteMe report
Where DeleteMe matches your data with any broker, they give you a detailed breakdown for each of the companies that has your data. This section of the report highlights approximately how much time each broker takes to process a removal request, and it’ll also give you a breakdown of what details that broker held, such as:
Name Age Address Email address Relatives associated with you Marital status Spouse’s name Occupation Property value Social media accounts Court records
You’ll also be able to see DeleteMe’s progress toward having your data removed. There are just two status updates though: “Removal in Progress” or “Clean! – Next scan in 90 days.” What’s more, the report will be updated when there are changes, as it can be accessed through your dashboard.
However, we would’ve been nice to see a link to each of the respective data brokers’ websites in the report. However, this doesn’t seem to be included at this point.
DeleteMe Custom Requests
Within your DeleteMe dashboard, you can also raise a request yourself under the Custom Requests tab. Here, you can submit a request if you’ve come across your data online since the initial removal process was completed. The team will send a deletion request on your behalf and follow up until it’s removed.
DeleteMe’s DIY Opt-Out Guide
While a subscription can be pricey, DeleteMe is still forthcoming about the methods that they use. They’ll even show you how to find and remove your data from data brokers’ lists without spending a cent! On the DeleteMe website, you can find a complete list of known data brokers, with an opt-out guide for each of them.
The most popular, data brokers that customers were looking for, are included at the top of the page. A guide for each broker is hosted on DeleteMe’s website, with a score that ranks them for how fast and how easily you can remove your personal information from the broker in question. Bear in mind that, at the time of writing, we were unable to search for other data brokers, such as those featured in our report. We received a connection error, which we informed the DeleteMe team about. Since the rest of the website functions well, we expect that the error will be ironed out in no time.
DeleteMe’s customer service
For the purpose of this DeleteMe review, we reached out to the support team for assistance. We found the DeleteMe customer support to be a friendly and knowledgeable bunch. Of course, you’re going to want to know more about the customer service options available to subscribers:
How to reach out to DeleteMe
In our experience, contacting customer support shouldn’t be necessary in most cases. Once you’ve signed up, you simply wait for your report to arrive; the process is very simple to understand and use. The exception might be if you’re raising a Custom Request, but that can be done through your personal dashboard. However, if you do need to contact them, it’s possible to reach out to customer support by following these steps:
DeleteMe also publishes a public-facing email address on their website, which is support@joindeleteme.com, in addition to a US phone number: +1-833-335-3836. However, note that we found these details within the privacy policy section of the website. DeleteMe may not intend to provide support in this manner or provide the same response times as the Live Chat feature.
What Are Data Brokers?
Now that you know about DeleteMe and what it does, it’s worth understanding what data brokers are. These corporations scour a range of sources, including government records, people search sites, and social media. They collate personal information, cultivate and analyze the records, and then sell that data to other organizations that use it for advertising purposes. While this process isn’t illegal, it does have many drawbacks. If your personal information falls into the wrong hands, you could become a victim of identity theft. These companies are not always well-known for using strong encryption and security software to protect data. What’s more, depending on what your information is used for, it could even scupper your chances of landing a job or have other unintended effects on your personal life.
DeleteMe Review Verdict: Is DeleteMe a Good Privacy Tool?
VPNs, antivirus, and password managers are becoming more popular as people try to shore up their defenses against cybercriminals. But they can’t remove information that’s already out there. That’s where DeleteMe comes in. There are some companies that use a fully automated process, but some leading data brokers require manual intervention to remove your data. DeleteMe’s combination of automation and manual intervention makes it the perfect solution for people who want to remove their data from the web. To prevent information leaks and keep yourself safe online, we recommend using a VPN when you browse the web. It encrypts your data and makes it virtually impossible for websites to track where you’re logging in from. Currently, the best VPN in the market is NordVPN. Bear in mind that while DeleteMe shows you the monthly cost for each subscription, you can only pay annually or biennially. There’s also an option to get a free, scaled-back report so that you can see how the service works.
