ZDNET’s key takeaways
- NPD, the people search site with a bad security record, is back.
- The good news is you can pull your information from it.
- Bad news? Hundreds of sites contain your data, but you can remove.
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Over a year ago, National Public Data (NPD), a search site for people, earned a place in privacy infamy for a security breach that revealed the personal data of 3 billion individuals (that’s billion with a “b”). Now, after disappearing, NPD is back.
As ZDNET sister publication PC Magazine reported, NPD is open for snooping again under a new owner, the rather mysterious-sounding Perfect Privacy LLC. This company has no relationship with the virtual private network (VPN) business Perfect Privacy VPN.
Also: The best VPN services (and how to choose the right one for you)
The new NPD is back to the same old business of letting people search for personal data on friends, relatives, your ex-wife, and anyone else. While the site states it’s “not a ‘consumer reporting agency’ as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA),” and that you may not use “any information from this site to make decisions about employment, credit, insurance, housing, or other purposes covered by the FCRA,” nothing is stopping you from using the site’s data to do just that.
After a brief review of the new NPD, I found that some of the data on the site was inaccurate or outdated. Other information, however, was spot-on. The site also appears to struggle with handling hyphenated names. That’s a win for me.
Where does NPD get its information?
NPD says on its site: “We collect the data you find on our people search engine from publicly available sources, including federal, state, and local government agencies, social media pages, property ownership databases, and other reliable platforms. After the data is in our hands, we verify and filter it to make sure it is indeed accurate and up-to-date.”
Also: 5 simple ways to regain your data privacy online – starting today
While NPD is far from the only site that offers gray, semi-legal services, I wouldn’t trust it with my information.
How to remove your information from NPD
If, like me, you’d just as soon not have NPD know who you are, where you live, and all the rest, take the following steps:
- Search your name on nationalpublicdata.com.
- When you find your profile, click “View Full Profile.”
- Copy its URL.
- Go to nationalpublicdata.com/optout.html.
- Drop the URL into the “Your Profile Link” field and click “Request Removal.”
- Enter an email address, and the site will send you an email requesting that you click to confirm deletion.
You’ll need a separate email address for each profile you want to delete.
Also: How to remove your personal info from Google Search – it’s quick and easy
The site appears to remove your data quickly. That said, if you opt out, I’d check again in a few days to make sure.
How to check for your data on people-searching sites
Mind you, dealing with NPD isn’t enough to erase your personal information. When I checked for my data on people-searching sites using Optery, a personal data removal service, I found my information on no fewer than 81 sites.
Also: I found the easiest way to delete myself from the internet (and you shouldn’t wait to use it, too)
If you seriously don’t want big data looking over your shoulder, I’d strongly recommend trying one of these services.
Source: Robotics - zdnet.com
