Remove Your Home Address and Personal Information From the Internet

iEditorial Note: These blog posts represent the opinion of DoNotPay’s Writers, but each person’s situation and circumstances vary greatly. As a result, you should make sure to do your own independent research. Because everyone is unique, our self-help tools are never guaranteed to help with any specific situation. DoNotPay is not a law firm and is not licensed to practice law. DoNotPay provides a platform for legal information and self-help.

How Can I Remove My Address From the Internet and Keep People Out of My Business

Imagine how horrifying it would be to discover that your has been published on the internet for all to see. Sadly, this is something that many people have to face every year. You might think that such sensitive and private information would be kept under lock and key, but an increasing number of people have reported that their private information has been leaked out onto the internet. The troubling thing about this is that it means virtually everyone has access to it for any purposes that they may have. It is clearly something that people want to be addressed as soon as possible.

What Makes a Home Address Appear Online?

When you stop and ask yourself the question "How do I remove my physical address online?", you might want to first pause and consider how that address ended up on the Internet in the first place. Is it something that you did wrong? The short answer is no.

Generally speaking, a home address may end up on the Internet as a result of a public record of the ownership of the house ending up online. It happens all the time, and people often don't even realize that they are potentially the victim of this situation until it is already out there. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to remove your personal information from Google and other search engines so that you don't have to panic that someone might find that information when you clearly don't want them to.

Before you assume that your home address is on the Internet due to a public record, consider the following other reasons why it might appear there:

  1. You have listed your home for sale on a real estate website
  2. You have posted your home address on social media at some point in time
  3. Your home is listed on a public directory such as the Whitepage
  4. You run a business out of your home and have thus shared the address yourself on the Internet

There are a lot of other reasons why your could appear online as well. Don't assume that it is just one thing until you have carefully considered all of the potential reasons why it is floating around out there.

How Can I Remove My Home Address From the Internet By Myself?

Opt-Out Of As Many Listing Services As PossibleIf you find yourself thinking "I want to remove my home address online", then you need to start with some of the lowest hanging fruit. Listing websites such as Spokeo and the Whitepages allow people to choose to opt out of their listing services if they submit a request. Most people do not realize this is an option, and they may not even realize how much data these listing services possess and post online. Not that you know, it is your responsibility to get onto these websites and make the request to have your name and home address removed from their service. Your name will be removed by these services if your request is submitted properly.
Take Legal Action If Necessary It might sound like a dramatic action to get a lawyer involved when you just want to know "How can I remove my address from the Internet?", but that may be the route that you need to take. As official as this is, sometimes a lawyer is the only person that some of these websites will pay attention to. If they are so resistant to removing your information even after being asked to do so in a professional manner, then it might be appropriate to get a lawyer involved.

A lawyer can do the following for you:

  • File a cease and desist order
  • Get your phone number removed from any Google search
  • Get your photos removed from a Google search
  • File for damages
  • Make a case that your reputation and safety have been harmed by allowing your private information to exist in public online spaces

You don't want to have to take it to this level if you don't have to, but sometimes these websites leave you with few options. If they dig their heels in about keeping your data on the Internet, then you have to fight back.

Don't Forget To Check The Obscure Corners Of The InternetYour work is not done until your address, name, photos, and all other personal information that you would like to keep private has been scrubbed from the Internet. This might mean taking a journey into some corners of the Internet that you wouldn't think personal information would show up. That said, people have found their information in places that they don't initially suspect. Sadly, some have even found extremely sensitive information such as their organ donor status readily available for anyone to view. That information should never be available to the public, and there are good reasons to be upset if you see something like this about yourself floating around on the Internet.

You have the power to change what is visible to others on the Internet about your life. However, it takes time, effort, and sometimes quite a bit of money to see progress that makes a difference. But there’s an easier way!

Remove Your Home Address from the Internet with the Help of DoNotPay

You don’t have to undertake tracking down your compromised data on your own. With the help of DoNotPay’s automated service, you can remove your information from the internet with a few clicks so you can get back to your life. Here’s how it works:

  1. Search "Remove My Information" on DoNotPay.

  2. Choose whether you want to remove your information from Google searches, YouTube videos, or data brokers in general.

  3. If it's for a Google search or YouTube video, tell us more about the specific content you want removed, including the URLs of where it's currently being displayed.

  4. If it's for a data broker, choose which data broker you want your information removed from, or choose the "All-in" option to remove your information from all of them!

  5. DoNotPay will automatically carry out your opt-out requests for each data broker or submit removal requests from the search engines. You can expect to receive confirmation emails from the data brokers.

Five steps and your life is just a little easier!

How Else Can DoNotPay Help?

DoNotPay was designed to help the average user save time and avoid frustration over day-to-day problems. Our life-changing tool can help you apply for a pet license, take large companies to small claims court, and help you recover hacked gaming accounts. And we’re just getting started! Here are just a few more of our services:

Start living a simpler, more convenient life with DoNotPay today.

Want your issue solved now?