r/privacy • u/smolandnonbinary • 1d ago
question I found my name and address on the first result with a simple Google search
Edit: the site was fastbackgroundcheck
Just put in my name and city, and in the description of the site it showed my current address and how long I’d been there. Normally if I see these things you at least have to go through their little loading thing to see any info, but this was just on Google, didn’t even click the link.
Is there any way I can get this removed?? Or at least steps in preventing further info from getting put on blast like this?
Normally im not big into this stuff as I know a lot of info is already in many systems even just using protected sites, but the fact that this is just my info on the first search result is actually crazy. I just wanna protect myself and my family from any ill intent. I can’t even tell you what could’ve allowed this, I’ve been on the internet for over a decade so I know younger me didn’t understand this kinda stuff. But I’m a lot safer and more aware nowadays, I just wanna keep myself safe. Appreciate any help
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u/West_Possible_7969 1d ago
It never ceases to amaze me how many shit like this are legal in US.
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u/smolandnonbinary 1d ago
Yeah idk :/ not surprised considering the state of the US rn but it really is awful
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u/West_Possible_7969 1d ago
All these things were always legal, my humble opinion is that the populace have been trained to accept it. I mean, gov, employees, landlords etc have access to things that are unheard of in EU, but that was always the case here. Of course every couple of months some party in EU will propose some legal abomination but they always fail to pass gloriously due to voters pushback (or courts).
I m sending good vibes for y’all to survive this presidency.
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u/Fentanyl_For_Lunch 1d ago
IUSA has a public records system, so all of the data OP found about himself is publicly accessible. While it’s a huge invasion of privacy, it’s a flaw that existed well before this administration and will be here long after. Not everything is because of Trump, we’ve had some flaws for a long time.
Thanks for sending the good vibes anyways lol. We survived in 2016 during his first presidency, and we weren’t all sitting in fascist regime camps so I think we’ll be alright.
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u/smolandnonbinary 1d ago
I agree, this has been an issue for a long time. Thank you for the good vibes <3 I dreaded 2016, Imma keep dreading now but we’ll get through it (hopefully lmao)
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u/West_Possible_7969 1d ago
As I said, this was always legal, the vibes is a response to OPs situation in US “right now”.
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u/CaseroRubical 1d ago
The current state of the US doesnt have much to do with this being legal
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u/West_Possible_7969 19h ago
As I said, this was always legal, the vibes is a response to OPs situation in US “right now”.
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u/NotTobyFromHR 1d ago
Unfortunately, databrokers are in the hundreds or thousands, as are these sites.
Privacy is dead in the US
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u/smolandnonbinary 1d ago
It really is, all we can really do is just keep opting out and keep talking about it, even if it’s inevitable that we’re kinda screwed at this point
At the least I can try my best to keep my info from being the first thing people see if they search it lol and at the least take a little longer to access. A very low bar but some hope is better than none
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u/JoinDeleteMe 1d ago
If your name is on FastBackgroundCheck, it's probably on other people search sites, too. After you opt out of FastBackgroundCheck, also check for yourself and opt out of sites like Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, MyLife, Radaris, InstantCheckmate, etc.
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u/AttentiveUser 1d ago
It’s weird how I’ve never heard of these in Europe. Is this a US problem?
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u/JoyfulCor313 1d ago
I think it’s a holdover from way back. One of the websites, whitepages, was meant to replace our literal printed phone books which had white and yellow pages.
The white pages listed everyone in your city, their address, and phone number.
So at first that made sense. Stop killing trees, just go online.
Now they’re nothing more than any other broker site, which yes, we’d love to get rid of, but that’d almost be downright unamerican - to deny a corporation it’s right to exploit individuals as much as possible for profit. 🇺🇸
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u/JoinDeleteMe 1d ago
Mostly, yes.
There are some data brokers and people search sites in Europe, but they operate under stricter regulations due to the GDPR.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/GnawingPossum 1d ago
Yep, and there's quite a bunch these sites too, but they all let you delete yourself. I spent about an hour a couple years ago deleting my family from these sites, and then set a google search alert when any of our names show up, at most once or twice a year, usually because a new data broker site just came online.
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u/k_g4201 1d ago
It clearly says: “Also, we regularly receive new public records so even if you opt out, your publicly available information may appear in our data products again in the future.”
You’ll never escape it unless you’re checking every day nearly…
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u/Sailesoul 1d ago
The laws were written before the internet and havnt caught up. In reality. Our data is bought and sold openly. If your a person if any significance grifters will look for a way to exploit that for their profit.
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u/TheSheWhoSaidThats 18h ago
People are really woe is me about data but i spent several week opting out of as many data broker sites as possible, changing all my passwords (to unique ones and keeping the new ones in a physical book), and erasing all old accounts, and wiping as much demographic data as possible from accounts i wanted to keep (major collectors similar google and facebook, for example you can remove your age and marital status, or put fake data, or add a fake name). That way the databrokers cant easily re-get data from one another, and they cant easily get new data from new breaches. I also changed my number, removed my home from google maps, and added my number to the do not call registry and added my address to the anti junk mail registry. Doing that all at once has virtually ended spam and i dont appear to be findable. I even had difficulty getting verified for an insurance site because they use data brokers and they couldnt find me. I also spent forever unsubscribing from as many spam emails as possible before i ran out of steam (you can just change your email but i wanted to keep mine). It was a lot of work but it worked. It is possible.
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1d ago
Change your name. Not a joke btw. There is a reason we used to say “once on the net, always on the net”
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u/smolandnonbinary 1d ago
Crazily as it sounds, I do intend on changing my name to my married name, just haven’t yet and pushing it off nowadays because in a wlw marriage and rn probably safer not to 😅
But I promise I’m trying! 😂
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u/k_g4201 1d ago
Have you changed your name?
How easy is it?
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u/smolandnonbinary 1d ago
It’s not hard at all, honestly the thing that kept me from changing it sooner was covid initially, and after that just having to change all of my documents & everything legal. I’ve just been procrastinating & everything this year has just kept me pushing it back even more lol
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u/Silly-Mountain-6702 1d ago
what's so special about you that anyone would want to look you up?
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u/smolandnonbinary 1d ago
I mean, nothing I suppose lmao. I’m not special really. But regardless I don’t want that info just being on the front page without even clicking on the link, or at all really but that’s inevitable. Looking up family members they didn’t have this problem (at least first glance), just tryna keep myself safe
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