Remove Phone Listing
I just did a search for my phone number on Google and was shocked at the results that popped up. It showed my full name, street address and a map of my neighborhood with a big arrow pointing to my house! One more click and it showed a satellite photo of my house. I could see the car in the driveway and the dog in the back yard. How can I remove my personal information from Google and other online phone directories?
Should You Remove Your Listing From Online Phone Directories?
I agree that it can be a bit of a shock to learn that some information you thought was private, is in fact very public. You've known all your life that your name, address and phone number are in the phone book. It's common sense that your neighborhood can be found on a map of your city. And satellite photos are nothing new. But websites that combine all of this information, and make it easy to find and act on... that's unsettling news to a lot of people.
But should it be? Seven years ago, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy said "You have zero privacy... get over it." As more and more public information becomes available online (such as property ownership records, voter registration, political donations, court filings) and more people willingly post private information online (think Myspace, YouTube, photo sharing, genealogy) we do become a much more transparent society.
That transparency can be both good and bad. It allows good, law-abiding citizens to easily find information that can help them educate and protect themselves. But it also enables miscreants to quickly gain access to information that can be used to perpetrate identity theft and other crimes. My personal opinion is that the potential for good outweighs the prospects for evil, because this wealth of information is freely available to everyone. But if you disagree, or feel uncomfortable about how others can access public information about you, read on.
Remove Me, Please
If you want to remove your listing from the most popular online telephone directories, here are the links and instructions to do so. Note that this is not an exhaustive list, but it does cover all the major sources, and most of the smaller ones are powered by the databases of the ones below.
- Google PhoneBook - Visit http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/pbremoval.html
- InfoSpace - You can delete your listing by searching the InfoSpace White Pages to find your listing. Once you have located it, click the update or remove link.
- Switchboard.com - To remove your listing, search for it at Switchboard.com then click the Update your listing link beside it. You can also send your listing (include name, address, and phone number) to webmaster@switchboard.com and enter Delete in the Subject field.
- Yahoo People Search - Visit http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/yps/listings/yps-06.html
- Verizon SuperPages - Visit http://www.whitepages.com/10866/cust_serv/removal_form
- WhitePages.com - To remove a listing, search for it at WhitePages.com. Then click on Privacy Concerns? Remove this listing from WhitePages.com at the bottom of the page.
- AnyWho - Visit http://www.anywho.com/help/privacy_list.html
- Addresses.com - http://www.addresses.com/feedback.php
- Intelius/Intelifinder - Visit http://find.intelius.com/emailcontact.php or contact Customer Service at 425-974-6100.
- ZabaSearch - Send an email to info@zabasearch.com and you will receive instructions on how to remove your listing from their database.
- AOL White Pages - powered by Infospace (see above)
- Lycos WhoWhere - powered by Verizon SuperPages (see above)
Other Privacy Boosters
As I mentioned above, even if you get your phone listing removed from all of the directories above, it still might be found by a search elsewhere. Do a search for your phone number at both Google and Yahoo, then follow up on any hits by contacting the site's owner or webmaster. The Whois database can help you find the registered owner of a site if there is no contact info provided.
Another option is to get a new unlisted phone number. Most phone companies charge a small fee for this, but it is very effective because all of the major phone directories update their web databases at least quarterly, and the ones that don't update will have your old incorrect number.
For further reading on privacy and online security, I recommend these articles:
Got something to say about online privacy? Post your comments below...
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Posted by Bob Rankin on November 21, 2006 09:23 PM
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Remove Phone Listing (Posted: November 21, 2006 09:23 PM)
Source: http://askbobrankin.com/remove_phone_listing.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Most recent comments on "Remove Phone Listing"
(See all 26 comments for this article.)Posted by:
Kato
19 Dec 2008
Hi..Can you tell us an easier way to remove our listing from Intelius, other than faxing them?
Thanks!
Posted by:
bilal
15 Mar 2009
could i filter do not call list numbers from any directory or please suggest me a directory that is without do dnc.
Posted by:
Ezekiel Alex
17 Mar 2009
I have the problem with phone book in my nokia 6300.
I cant delete phone records at once, i will be happy if u help me how to unprotect it.
Posted by:
lisa
14 Apr 2009
I am not able to remove my name from the optout options on switchboard or infospace. It keeps telling me that my criteria doesn't match their records even thought I copied exactly as it appears. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Posted by:
juliy
15 Jul 2009
I am no longer providing escort service. When a Yahoo Web search is done for XXX-678-103X the below search results appear. It is urgent that you remove the website associated with the Outdated Ads, Telephone numbers, search results, Cached, etc. results. Google has advised me that the site owner must remove it before google can delete it from their index.
EDITOR'S NOTE: It's not urgent for me. I don't control any of those sites. You'll need to contact Yahoo, or the owners of each site where your listing appears and ask THEM to remove it.
Posted by:
Diana
21 Jul 2009
Thanks so much for all this info. I didn't realize that my name and phone number was all over the internet!
Well, I'm going to fix all of this tomorrow.
Thanks again...
Posted by:
Joe
23 Aug 2009
people keeping getting my number off the internet and calling for my daughter, and she is too young to date. so people could you remove all records of my name, address, and number off the web.
EDITOR'S NOTE: You're barking up the wrong tree. The "people" you need to contact are not reading this forum. My advice: get an unlisted number.
Posted by:
Gina
12 Nov 2009
I used Opt Out Detectives they provide pre-written letters to all the companies that require written opt out request's along with your info to get me off the list's. It's worked great! thanks for the help!
Posted by:
deepa
10 Feb 2010
i want to remove my phone no on the google web page.
EDITOR'S NOTE: So you visited the link I provided for that right? And what happened?
Posted by:
Jim Hosenfeld
22 Feb 2010
I just want to say.Tonight after several hours due due a wrong number calling me,i happened to find all my info on the web,and because of your web site i was able to remove all my info per every web site that you listed.thank you so much..