Staying private is one of the best ways to keep yourself safe. That goes for physical and digital security. But, keeping your information off the internet is not an easy task when people search sites like Intelius try to make your information available to any bidder. Fortunately, you can take your privacy back by opting out of Intelius. And we’re going to show you exactly how we opted ourselves out.
They don’t make it easy. After all, they make money by selling your data. But there are a number of ways to request your information to be taken off their site. We’ll focus on the manual method, but keep reading to the end because we’ll also discuss an easier method using a data removal service like Incogni. When we tested Incogni, it got our information removed from 100 people search sites with open requests out for another 158 sites in just a couple of weeks.
>> Read More: A 2024 Guide to Data Removal Services
What is Intelius?
Intelius is a people search site that specializes in gathering public data to identify connections between people. That means they try to find out who you’ve lived with, your family members, your employers, and anyone else connected to you. While that’s what they specialize in, they also make all of the public data they gather to identify these connections available for sale as well.
Did You Know: Since Intelius is owned by another company, when you opt out of Intelius, you also opt out of PeopleConnect, Truthfinder, and Instant Checkmate as well. If you’ve already opted out of one of those companies, you’ve already opted out of Intelius too. So, if you joined us when we created our guide to opting out of Truthfinder, the process will be the same except we’re starting on the Intelius site this time.
How Do I Opt Out of Intelius?
Thankfully, opting out of Intelius went smoother for us than when we opted out of Spokeo. The biggest hurdle was finding the link to the opt-out page since they labeled it as a data privacy page and then we had to navigate to another page from there. Let’s talk about the entire process.
>> Learn More: How to Opt Out of Whitepages
How to Remove Your Data Manually from Intelius
We’ll give you a fair warning. Opting out of Intelius took us a while. It wasn’t quite as bad as Spokeo, but we still ran into a few issues. Here’s the full rundown on how to opt out of Intelius manually:
- Find the opt out page. Before you can opt out, you need to get to the opt out form. You’d think it would be the “Do Not Sell Or Share My Personal Information” link in the footer. But it’s not. The only way we found to navigate to the opt out page is through the “Exercise My Data Privacy Rights” page. On that page, scroll down to the “Your Right to Delete” section and instead of filling out that form, click the “Suppression Request” link.
That’s a lot of steps, so we found the link for you. Here it is: https://suppression.peopleconnect.us/login
- Verify your email. On the Suppression Center page, it seems like all of the steps will be there. But, after you put in your email address in step 1, they send you an email to complete the opt-out request. The verification link expires after 15 minutes, so make sure you’re ready to complete the opt-out before you submit your email.
Pro Tip: If you are a federal judge or related to a federal judge, you follow a special process. That’s because there are stricter laws related to information takedown requests for federal judges and their immediate relatives. So, email privacy@peopleconnect.us with proof that you’re a judge or a relative to a judge and your request for your data removal.
- Provide more information. This seems counterintuitive when you’re trying to remove your information, but providing your personal data like date of birth and full name will help Intelius find the profile for which you’ll submit an opt-out request.
- Select the records that fit you. Intelius will try to find records that match the personal information you provided. You might see multiple results, so choose the profile that best matches yours.
When we chose our record, some of the information was wrong. We don’t have an AltaVista email address and our phone number does not end in 27. But, the rest of the information fit, so we chose that record to get all of our information off of Intelius whether it’s correct or not.
- Another verification. To make sure you’re requesting to remove your information and not of someone else, there will be another verification. The easiest way would be to use one of the email addresses or phone numbers in your records. In our case, though, since none of the email addresses are correct, we had to reach out to their customer care team to verify our identity another way.
PeopleConnect got back to use and let us verify our identity through our current email address so we were able to get our records removed.
- Wait for removal. After verifying your identity, PeopleConnect will delete your record from Intelius and the other people search sites they own. This takes days to take effect, so wait about 48 hours and then try to search your information again to see if the record still exists.
Use Data Removal Sites and Services to Opt Out of Intelius
There’s no getting around it, manually opting out of people search sites is tedious. Doing it with Intelius was no exception. Nearly every time we try to opt out of one, we run into some type of issue. That’s why we think data removal sites and services are well worth it.
These services handle the entire process for you so you don’t need to lift a finger. You simply provide as much personal information as needed, and they’ll search people search sites for records that match. They’ll also initiate removal requests on their own.
There are a lot of options for data removal sites and services. They vary in quality too. That’s why we started testing them ourselves. We made a list of our three favorite data removal services with both manual and automated options so you can pick the best one for you.
Our top pick for data removal services is Incogni. When we tested it, they removed our data from 100 sites with another 158 on the way within one week. By comparison, when we tested DeleteMe, it took them a full week to create an initial report where they only found which sites stored our information. Check out our DeleteMe vs Incogni comparison for a direct comparison of our experience with each.
FYI: If you like the automated approach more, take a read through our Optery vs Incogni comparison for an automated alternative to Incogni. One good thing about Optery is the free version. That way you can test out data removal services to see if you want a premium version.
Incogni makes it easy to search for your information and remove it from Intelius.
What Happens Once I Opt Out of Intelius?
After opting out of Intelius, your records will get removed from all people search sites owned by PeopleConnect. That includes Intelius, PeopleConnect, Truthfinder, and Instant Checkmate.
Opting out of Intelius does not mean your information will be off their site forever though. They can recollect your information. Or, if the same information shows up on a different public record, they can publish that data as well. This means you need to regularly check Intelius for your information if you want to stay private. We recommend checking every six months to a year.
Pro Tip: Too tedious? It’s another reason we recommend getting a data removal service. Besides opting you out of people search sites the first time you sign up, services like Incogni will continue to monitor people search sites for your personal information. If your data pops up again, they’ll file another removal request on your behalf.
Why Should You Opt Out of Intelius?
While opting out of Intelius isn’t easy, it’s worth it. Making your information private keeps you safe from all types of physical and digital threats. We always recommend staying anonymous on the internet. Here are our top reasons you should opt out of Intelius:
- Reduce Your Exposure to Identity Theft — Identity thieves use people search sites like Intelius to gather more information about their victims. With the information from Intelius like the names of your family members and your past addresses, identity thieves can successfully bypass security questions typically used to protect your identity.
>> Read About: A 2024 Guide to Identity Theft Protection
- Protect Yourself Against Stalkers — When hiding from stalkers, people search sites can blow your cover. You might retreat to a family member’s home or change your phone number. In either circumstance and many more, stalkers can use Intelius to find your current location or point of contact.
- Hide From Unsolicited Communications — Spam callers and emailers use people search sites to build their contact lists. Once they have one piece of your information, they can find more points of contact in an attempt to get a response from you.
Final Thoughts: How to Opt Out of Intelius
It’s no secret, Intelius does not make it easy to opt out. After all, they make money by selling your information. So, they want to keep it. For instance, we ran into an issue where we couldn’t verify our identity since the email addresses and phone numbers they had on file for us were not accurate. We had to reach out to their customer support to get our information removed.
But, there is an easier way – signing up for a data removal service. We like Incogni in particular because it automates the entire data removal process. They automatically scan people search sites and data brokers for your information and then send a takedown request immediately. This is the best long-term solution for keeping your personal information private.
Intelius FAQs
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Can Intelius sell my information?
Yes, since Intelius only gathers your information from public sources, they can legally sell your information.
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Does opting out of Intelius permanently remove my information?
No, if you opt out of Intelius, it only removes the information they currently have on your record. They can recollect information from new sources or collect new information from the sources they used to get your information initially. That’s why we recommend automated data removal services like Incogni. They keep up with Intelius’ new records to request the removal of your information as soon as it gets published.
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How do I verify my identity to opt out of Intelius if I no longer have access to their contact methods?
Don’t worry, that’s what happened to us too. They had the wrong phone number for us and an old email address we can no longer access. In that case, you need to email privacy@peopleconnect.us to verify your identity and confirm your data removal request.
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Do I need to pay to opt out of Intelius?
You can opt out of Intelius for free by following our manual Intelius opt out guide. We outline every step we took to opt out of Intelius for free.
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How can I stop Intelius from collecting my information?
Since Intelius collects information from publicly available sources, you cannot prevent them from collecting your information. Data removal services like Incogni can help you keep your information off of Intelius because it automatically requests the removal of your data anytime they add new records associated with your identity.