Opt-Out Tuesday: How to remove your info from Apollo.io
While tech companies collect your data to build an online profile and track your shopping and browsing habits, other companies sell your personal information to whoever is interested. This can include scammers, hackers, con artists and crazy exes.
People search sites search public records to get information on you. This includes your full name, address, phone number, family history and employment information. Tap or click here for our growing list of invasive people search sites and how to get away from them.
For this week’s entry in our Opt-Out Tuesday series, we’ll show you how to remove yourself from Apollo.io.
Here’s the backstory
Don’t ever pay for any people search service. Most of these sites are scammy in nature. You may think you’re paying for one report and find that you’ve been roped into recurring charges.
And never pay to remove your information from any site. This process must be provided for free.
But be careful which links you click when opting out of people search sites. Links they provide are often ads that lead you to another site that requests payment. We’ll provide accurate links to remove yourself from these sites with each Opt-out Tuesday report.
Do you have older relatives who may not know about these sites? While you’re opting out yourself, why not do the same for them? Just type in their information as you would your own, and follow our steps to completion.
RELATED: Privacy tip: How to clear all the places you’ve been from Apple Maps
Driven by sales and your data
Apollo.io is a data-driven sales platform that sells professional and business information online. The site allows anyone to search and engage with over 250 million contacts at over 60 million companies through its platform.
If you have a job or business that attracts salespeople, there’s a good chance you’ll find your personal information posted here.
Tips for deleting yourself from people-search sites
Face it: What you do online isn’t private. Even if you’re browsing in good ol’ incognito mode, you’re still not anonymous. Incognito mode does have handy uses like keeping certain searches out of your autofill and suggestions. Tap or click here for my favorite insider secrets to getting the most out of private browsing.
Remove your name, address and more off this site now!
Data is big business in today’s online ecosystem. It’s the reason behind Facebook’s unparalleled success, and why platforms like Google and Amazon are so eager to learn about you and your interests.
Each piece of data a platform obtains about you provides advertisers and marketers more tools to sell their products with. Microtargeting and intrusive ad tracking are simply side effects surrounding this massive exchange of data. Tap or click here to see how to stop platforms like Facebook from tracking you across the web.