YES! I remove myself constantly. We don't have mail sent to our home and are very private in our personal life, as we don't need people in our professional life knowing everything. I never give phone numbers to retail places. If I do give a phone number to return things, it's fake. I never give people my license when I return things....I "forgot it" and my husband dropped me off. Fake name and address....I make sure the address does not exist.
I don't even give my SS# when I open new utility accts. They tell me I HAVE to, and I tell them that they give illegals without a SS# utilities, so I'm SURE you can take something else. Usually it's a $200 deposit and I get it back in a year...fine with me. I don't have some phone operator who makes $10/hour getting ALL of my info. Hello????
It took me 2 years to get off of all mailing lists, but SO worth it. I call each company and tell them to remove me from ALL lists, rented, shared or sold.
When I move, I only call the people I want to have my new address. NEVER a post office notice....after 6 months with the PO notice, the mail goes back to the sender WITH the new address. BUT because we don't have mail sent to our home, we use a private mailbox where we can received FedEx, UPS, etc and I never have to change our address when we move....and my credit report shows ONE address forever...which improves your credit score. With the mailbox, we never have to tell the post office to vacation hold mail...so even our postman doesn't know we are gone. WHO DO YOU TRUST 100%?
I use a pre-paid cell with a fake name and a fake birthday. I have nothing to hide, but I don't get sales calls....and the name I use is just a first initial and last name like Smith. I never give them an address, as much as they try to convince me and I use the same birthdate for anything that "requires" it...but it's not mine. And with the cheap phone, we don't have all of the cool fatures, but we also don't have GPS. We do use our iPad for stuff, but we have the GPS disabled....and once again, registered the iPad with a different name.
I never give my mother's maiden name on ANYTHING. Once again, I use a different one, maybe even a GGG grandmother or a fake one, you decide. They just use it to confirm it's you, BUT I can access maiden names within seconds on websites, even ancestry.com, so it's not safe and NOT a good idea.
It sounds hard, but really, in the long run, makes our lives uncomplicated.
I write letters to each company with a certified return receipt - TOTALLY worth the extra money. Look in the depths of their websites to find the addresses to send the letters. Even the ones that tell you "no", you can start the letter with, "My attorney reassures me that you with comply with my request...." even if I don't have an attorney. Within 2 days of receiving the letters, no information is posted. AND I DO NOT GIVE THEM A NEW/UPDATED ADDRESS, as I just use the most recent one they have. I'm not about to give them more info!!!!
I also cut and paste the listing(s) into the letter that I want removed. Here is the wording that I use. Check to be sure the addresses are still valid:
November 23, 2010
USA People Search
PO Box 188860
Sacramento, CA 95818
Re: Removal of Information from ALL lists
To whom this may concern;
I am requesting that you immediately remove any and all information about us from your site, and remove it from all lists that you sell, share or rent to any other companies or people. Remove all current and previous addresses. Here are the EXACT examples from your site:
EXAMPLE EXAMPLE EXAMPLE
Please mail us, if there is a problem with our request, but our attorney is certain there won’t be a problem. Thank you again.
(You can fake sign it if you want, but we don't give them ANY signature)
Name
Address
NO PHONE NUMBER
Here are the addresses of a few big ones:
USA People Search
PO Box 188860
Sacramento, CA 95818
PrivateEye / Public Records Now – Opt out
15332 Antioch St. # 713
Los Angeles, CA 90272
US SEARCH Opt-Out
600 Corporate Pointe, Suite 220
Culver City, CA 90230
Opt-Out/Veromi.net
1821 Q Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
This one BELOW you HAVE to fax and they state you must photcopy your license to remove it. I did NOT and it was removed....but I did give them a copy of the listing.
To: Intelius
From: XXXXX
Re: Removal of our information from the Intelius public records databases
Fax: ###-###-####
MyLife.com, Inc.
Attn: Privacy Policy Officer
2118 Wilshire Blvd. Box 1008
Santa Monica, CA 90403-5784
Re: Opt Out
To whom this may concern;
I am requesting that you immediately remove any and all information from www.MyLife.com and to the other domains as the "MyLife.com Sites” including www.addressbook.com, www.myaddressbook.com, www.reunion.com, www.highschoolalumni.com, www.MyLife.com, www.whoislookingforyou.com, www.whoissearchingforyou.com, www.whosesearchingforyou.com, www.whossearchingforyou.com, and www.goodcontacts.com , as well as any other affiliates or non-affiliates.
Please mail me if there is a problem, but our attorney is certain there won’t be a problem. Thank you again.
Inflection LLC
d/b/a PeopleSmart.com
P.O. Box 391146
Omaha, NE 68139
As per your Opt-Out Policy and California Civil Code Section 1789.3, please remove ALL of my information from your site, as well as any lists that you share, sell or rent, etc with ANY other affiliates or non-affiliates indefinitely.
Please remove ALL renditions of my name as listed at the bottom of this request.
Please remove me from ALL listings, including being related to:
Christopher XXXX
Henry XXXXX
Robert XXXXXX
Vivian X XXXXXXX
GOOD LUCK! If this can save ONE person's life from a stalker, robber, etc, then it's TOTALLY worth sharing, not to mention, getting your life back - and decreasing the odds of identity theft, which can ruin your life AND credit.