Your home address, phone, relatives, and past addresses are listed on dozens of people-search sites — scraped and resold. You can't clear all of them forever, but you can remove the highest-impact ones and slow the reappearance. This gives a prioritized opt-out plan: which brokers to hit first, how to opt out of each, and how to reduce the sources feeding them.
What This Skill Produces
- A prioritized target list — the biggest/most-visible brokers and people-search sites first, where removal matters most
- The opt-out method per site — the specific route (opt-out form, email, verification steps) for each
- Source suppression — reducing what feeds the brokers (public records settings, marketing opt-outs, tightening accounts)
- A recheck cadence — because listings reappear; when and how to re-scan and re-remove
- Safe-handling cautions — how to opt out without oversharing new data or falling for fake "removal" services
- A do-it-yourself vs paid-service note — honest tradeoffs of removal services
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
- Your goal — general privacy, or a specific worry (safety, harassment, a stalker — changes urgency)
- What's exposed — address, phone, email, relatives, workplace (from a self-search)
- Region — determines which brokers and which privacy rights apply
- Time/effort — DIY or considering a paid removal service
- Safety context — if there's a safety threat, that reprioritizes everything
Framework: Biggest First, Suppress The Source, Repeat
- Self-search to map exposure. Search your name + city to see what's actually listed and where — target from reality, not a generic list.
- Hit the high-impact brokers first. The largest aggregators feed the smaller ones; removing them has outsized effect.
- Follow each site's real opt-out. Use the site's official opt-out page; verify carefully and don't submit more than required.
- Suppress at the source. Reduce public-record exposure, opt out of marketing data sharing, and lock down accounts so brokers have less to re-scrape.
- Recheck on a cadence. Listings return; schedule periodic re-scans and re-removals — it's maintenance, not one-and-done.
- Mind safety and scams. For a genuine safety threat, prioritize and consider expert help; avoid "removal" services that are themselves data grabs.
Output Format
Data-broker removal: goal [x] · [region] · [DIY/service]
Map it: self-search results → what's exposed.
Remove (priority order)
- [Major broker] — opt out via [method/URL type], verify by [step].
- [Broker] — [method]. … (highest-traffic first)
Suppress the source: [public-record/marketing/account settings]. Recheck: every [1–3 months] — re-scan and re-remove. Cautions: submit only required info · avoid shady "removal" services · [safety note if relevant].
Quality Checks
- Starts from a real self-search, not a generic list
- Prioritizes the highest-impact brokers first
- Gives the specific opt-out method per site
- Includes source-suppression so data stops flowing back
- Sets a recheck cadence (reappearance is expected)
- Cautions against oversharing and fake removal services
- Reprioritizes for genuine safety threats
Anti-Patterns
- Treating it as one-and-done — listings come back.
- Random order instead of biggest-impact-first.
- Oversharing extra data in the opt-out itself.
- Ignoring the source so brokers just re-scrape.
- Recommending a sketchy removal service that harvests data.
Example Trigger Phrases
- "How do I get my home address off those people-search sites?"
- "Remove my personal info from data brokers."
- "My phone number and relatives are showing up online — help."
- "I want to shrink my digital footprint for safety reasons."
- "Are data-removal services worth it, or can I do it myself?"