How to opt-out of White Pages and remove your personal information

Most people know the format of the original White Pages — a book with an almost endless amount of names and phone numbers in tiny, tiny print. At the time, the very thought that you could find the phone number of someone by just flipping through this tome was revolutionary.

Today, the white pages continue on in an entirely new medium — the internet — and the company hosts the biggest database of personal info of Americans. While everything found on WhitePages.com is public information and what these people finder sites are doing is 100 percent legal, what if you want to conduct a white pages opt-out and have your information removed?

Removing information from the white pages and other people-finder sites

Before we go into how to conduct a WhitePages opt-out, let’s start with “people finder” sites in general. WhitePages.com is one of many sites offering personal information via searches, others include Spokeo and Intelius. In fact, there are dozens of people finder-type sites, and most offer the same information across the board.

So while conducting your white pages opt-out makes sense, remember that to truly strike your personal information from the internet, you’ll probably need to do this dozens of times on other sites. If that seems like a tall order, you can always hire a data security removal service to do all of that for you. More on that later, too.

One more thing — don’t use your regular/main email address for any opt-out requests. Use a secondary one or create an email address just for opting out, spam, etc. The same goes for your phone number — instead of using your regular mobile number, see if you can get a google voice or other type of number for verification.

Here are the instructions:

        1. Go to Whitepages.com.

        2. Enter your name and hit Search.

        3. You’ll see a list of profiles —mostly of people with your same name. Find your profile and click on it.

        4. You’ll be taken to a page with a fewmore details, and maybe even a sales page. Click on the profile or the button ViewDetails.

        5. In another window, open up the opt-outpage URL for white pages.

        6. Now, go back to the first window andcopy the web address / URL for your profile page.

        7. Open the white paper opt out page inyour other window, and copy and paste that web address into the box. Click Next

        8. You should see your profile. Clickon the button Remove Me.

        9. On the next page, you’ll be asked togive a reason why you want to remove your info. You can also enter a comment,but that’s optional. Click on Next.

        10. You’ll be asked to verify youridentity in a phone call. Use your secondary phone number, if you have one.Check the box and click Call now to verify.

        11. You’ll hear a recorded call – justfollow the steps. If everything works out, you’ll be told your white pagesopt-out request was accepted. It shouldn’t take longer than 24 hours to haveyour information removed from the site – but go back and check, just in case.

Opting out of multiple services – a long-term project

If you’re absolutely certain you want to go it alone when opting out from people finder sites — WhitePages.com included — you should know what the task will entail. Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll need to accomplish your goal of a white pages (and other sites) opt-out:

           1. A list of people finder websites
Everything starts by making a list — which may grow or shrink over time. While some people finder sites and services are more popular than others, there are numerous lesser-known sites that will also need your attention. So, think of this list as a “living” list. You’ll need to maintain it over time.

        2. An organized spreadsheet
You’ll need to create a spreadsheet with dates, times contacted, site URLs, etc. to track your progress. This sheet will also be your go-to when you go back to each site to check to see if your records are gone within the stated time frame.

        3. Time and patience
As you make your way through your list of people finder sites, and you find that your white pages opt out or any other opt-out didn’t go as planned, you’ll need to revisit the sites having issues and come up with another plan. You may come across broken URLs, erroneous directions, and other problems, so expect to get creative when you hit these roadblocks.

Using a data security removal service to make your life easier

You may not have the time or energy to opt out of people finder sites. Or maybe it’s just something that seems a little bit tedious. Even if you just want to relax about having your information removed by outsourcing it to a data security removal service, you definitely have a choice.

However, if you choose Status Labs to manage your opt outs from data brokers and data aggregators, here’s what we can do:

• Scan and remove your private and personal data from 25 of the biggest, most popular services.
• Deliver a custom scan that helps us manually remove your information from additional people finder sites — 80+ data aggregators and brokers. These sites are known for being difficult to opt out from.
• Scan and have court records removed from Casetext, Law360.com, and Justia.com.
• Look for your personal details and data on the dark web via scan. When criminals want to buy or sell personal information, they often do this on the dark web.

Our data removal service is annual, and by paying once per year, you’ll get a scan every single month that shows our progress. If you decide to pay quarterly, you’ll get four scans during that time period.

Reach out to us at Status Labs to get more information — we can make sure your data is removed!

‍