DeleteMe - Validity discussion

[Ronin.badger]

Name of Brand: DeleteMe

 

 

Description of your issue:   my issue is logic. how is a service like DeleteMe set out to guarantee that my Online Data from a Data broker is deleted permanently? If it were, then I would not need a continual subscription to Their service. So then My Data is not deleted, or it is but then restored. So what holds an entity of Bad actors in jurisdictions with no legal recourse from complying with the requests of any foreign agency let alone a corporate one. Does DeleteMe pay these entities a monthly cut to not sell or use my Data? like a Mobster protection racket? 

 

 

Have you tried solving your issue through the brand's customer support channel? If so, what was the result?  This issue is with their service and is a discussion of their practices. In contacting them they refer me to forward facing promotional materials on how their service works which does not answer these questions. 

 

 

What would an ideal resolution of your issue look like?  Is it ideal to ask for an aggressive approach? hacking into their services to permanently remove all backups of the data, and/or installing a self maintaining malicious program that auto deletes entries from a maintained request list. but then this would be illegal in the countries that DeleteMe operates. 

 

 

Summary - I do not see the reason for DeleteMe or other similar services. If the Piratebay can run from the law and it is just a referencing server, how are data brokers on the dark web servicing bad actors any different? 

 

Edit: I found this video that goes deep into more reasons and the validity of these services. 

 

[Eigenvektor]

Their services only work for data brokers that operate above board and have a formal way of requesting your data to be removed. The only thing DeleteMe and other services like them do is file those requests on your behalf. I don't think they guarantee removal, since they have no way to proof it was done. The service doesn't do anything you couldn't do yourself, they simple make it more convenient by doing it for you.

 

29 minutes ago, Ronin.badger said:

Is it ideal to ask for an aggressive approach? hacking into their services …

No, that is simply asking them to commit crimes on your behalf. Aside from being incredible difficult to pull off in the first place.

 

29 minutes ago, Ronin.badger said:

 I do not see the reason for DeleteMe or other similar services.

There are a lot of services that offer to do something for you. As long as people find it more convenient than doing it themselves and the service makes money as a result, that's reason enough for them to exist. They're not going to stop just because you think they shouldn't.

[CasualExtremist]

I am glad you did bring up concerns with them before bringing it here. Sadly it will always be speculation as to how much their services do. Up to you to decide how much that speculative effort is worth.

[manikyath]

40 minutes ago, Ronin.badger said:

my issue is logic. how is a service like DeleteMe set out to guarantee that my Online Data from a Data broker is deleted permanently? If it were, then I would not need a continual subscription to Their service. So then My Data is not deleted, or it is but then restored. So what holds an entity of Bad actors in jurisdictions with no legal recourse from complying with the requests of any foreign agency let alone a corporate one. Does DeleteMe pay these entities a monthly cut to not sell or use my Data? like a Mobster protection racket? 

i'm not gonna talk about the validity of a paid subscription service, i'm only gonna address the "technical" aspect of this.

 

what deleteme does, is pester data brokers to delete your data on your behalf. so.. if the data is deleted, why is this then an ongoing service? because if they managed to hoover up your data once, it's not unlikely they can hoover it up again.

 

imagine an example case of a mailbox receiving spam from a number of different mailing lists. sure in theory once you "unsubscribe" from all of them, all spam should be gone.. which it is, until another service somewhere hoovers up that mail address and sells it to a data broker that sells it to an advertiser. the service here is not to 'unsubscribe from your spam', the service is to do so on an ongoing basis.

 

i have some problems with the "how exactly" deleteme knows who has your data, the simplest answer to that is that they are essentially a customer to the data brokers, and then go around and send removal requests for people who are in their own database... but then that also means deleteme has quite a valuable database of information on their hands.

 

as for the "how do they delete your data" part, it's simple.. most juristdictions have some form of requirement for data brokers to remove data if someone requests them to. you *could* do this yourself, i actually do, and if you're the sort of person who values their time over a tenner per month, i cant recommend the DIY approach.. but if you enjoy getting telemarketers to the point of crying just so they stop calling you... DIY is the way to go.

[Kisai]

On 7/23/2025 at 1:51 PM, manikyath said:

 

 

what deleteme does, is pester data brokers to delete your data on your behalf. so.. if the data is deleted, why is this then an ongoing service? because if they managed to hoover up your data once, it's not unlikely they can hoover it up again.

 

 

From a wide view, it's impractical that deleteme works at all, and a tinfoilhatter would probably say deleteme is the puppet master behind the data broker puppets, but you never know. These companies just sell and repackage data over and over without any validity. 20 years ago this is what people who stole credit card and password lists did. So in some way deleteme is actually validating that that information is in fact, accurate, and all they're gonna do is remove it from one database to another more accurate database and sell that.

 

Now... Is that what happens? I don't know.  But it seems to me that you're better off not going after the individual data brokers yourself and instead get your data from LexisNexis yourself and see who they are selling it to.

https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/equifax

Quote

Information for Equifax Consumers

LexisNexis Risk Data Management, Inc. ("LexisNexis") is a provider of bankruptcy information to Equifax. 

etc, etc.

 

[manikyath]

4 hours ago, Kisai said:

 

From a wide view, it's impractical that deleteme works at all, and a tinfoilhatter would probably say deleteme is the puppet master behind the data broker puppets, but you never know. These companies just sell and repackage data over and over without any validity. 20 years ago this is what people who stole credit card and password lists did. So in some way deleteme is actually validating that that information is in fact, accurate, and all they're gonna do is remove it from one database to another more accurate database and sell that.

 

Now... Is that what happens? I don't know.  But it seems to me that you're better off not going after the individual data brokers yourself and instead get your data from LexisNexis yourself and see who they are selling it to.

https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/equifax

etc, etc.

 

if you're gonna quote the first bit of my post, at least make it seem like you've read the rest of it as well.

[Kisai]

39 minutes ago, manikyath said:

if you're gonna quote the first bit of my post, at least make it seem like you've read the rest of it as well.

Your suggestion was to waste your time annoying them.

On 7/23/2025 at 1:51 PM, manikyath said:

you *could* do this yourself, i actually do, and if you're the sort of person who values their time over a tenner per month, i cant recommend the DIY approach.. but if you enjoy getting telemarketers to the point of crying just so they stop calling you... DIY is the way to go.

 

Just realize that, the fact that you answered the phone, or responded to an email unsubscribe link is enough for them to go "YEP, VALID" and sell it again before they remove you from their database.

 

Like people don't realize they're wasting their money on a service that basically just takes your money and effectively does nothing if you don't live somewhere that has GDPR like laws. Basically, it's only going to work in California in the US. Which is good enough if you live in California, or are telling a California company to lose your data (eg Google and Apple.) US laws are otherwise awful otherwise lexisnexis would not exist, equifax, experian, transunion would also not exist, and Paypal could not operate.

[Timme]

A quick overview

 

[Ronin.badger]

2 hours ago, Timme said:

A quick overview

 

I got served this too. posted to the main thread.

[Ronin.badger]

On 7/23/2025 at 2:51 PM, manikyath said:

as for the "how do they delete your data" part, it's simple.. most jurisdictions have some form of requirement for data brokers to remove data i

 

9 hours ago, Kisai said:

Like people don't realize they're wasting their money on a service that basically just takes your money and effectively does nothing if you don't live somewhere that has GDPR like laws.

 

 

This is my point. You pay insurance to a service that is trying to do the impossible. like catching a fart in the wind with a butterfly net. Most of the bad actors who deal with your data that you are scared of like call scammers operate outside these jurisdictions and DO NOT need to comply. Any brokers who do, like Facebook or Google, have data farms in jurisdictions that don't; just like how online casinos all operate out of the Bahamas to avoid taxes or CEO Cayman bank accounts. The brokers in big tech obfuscate their links to such a degree that its impossible to pin them to a source. with these major companies being Global its even easier for them to hide it. Then there are those who do it with implicitly unregulated from governments, like in china, or the NSA and ICE in the US.