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Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

#41

Post by not1ofU »

mazlix wrote: post #29
huhtenberg wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be joking. A bit hard on them? They sell removal of personal information off the Internet, and yet they feed tracking data on their visitors to companies directly responsible for nearly complete evisceration of personal online privacy.

I may be in the minority, but I make a distinction between personal IRL information like searching my name reveals my phone number or address. And online tracking information like when I have this cookie or browse from this IP, show me more X. Also Facebook is a large responsible company (no major data breaches, etc.) I know they're hated on, but something like Equifax is several orders of magnitude worse in my opini…

>> Also Facebook is a large responsible company (no major data breaches, etc.)

First result for: "facebook data breach"

"Data from 533 million people in 106 countries was published on a hacking forum earlier this month. Facebook said the data was old, from a previously reported leak in 2019. It has denied any wrongdoing, saying that the data was scraped from publicly available information on the site."

Dated: April 20th 2021

There was 100% phone numbers linked to real names and email addresses (at a minimum) in that breach. That may not be what you would consider to be major, however.

Re: Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

#42

Post by na85 »

striking wrote: post #37
tstegart wrote: post #33

Can you delete my old HN comments?

You can have your old HN comments deleted by emailing the mods. There's limits to how much they'll delete, but they definitely don't want you to get into trouble over something you posted on HN.

>There's limits to how much they'll delete

Yes it's a huge problem. Many of us (or maybe just me?) would not have been so candid on HN had we known our comments would be indelibly preserved forever with no option for deletion.

The stated reasons for this policy I've seen from 'dang amount to "we don't like the look of a bunch of comment chains with [deleted] everywhere" which I find insulting.

I have a suspicion that the real reason is that the site software conveniently doesn't have a mass-deletion function.

Re: Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

#43

Post by tstegart »

striking wrote: post #37
tstegart wrote: post #33

Can you delete my old HN comments?

You can have your old HN comments deleted by emailing the mods. There's limits to how much they'll delete, but they definitely don't want you to get into trouble over something you posted on HN.

Thank you, I appreciate that.

Re: Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

#44

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

opteryqthrow wrote: post #11

Does your service cover websites that scrape arrest records and create pages based off that? I had a public intox arrest that was since expunged/sealed, yet the record persists on a lot of pages deep in the Google index. Would definitely pay for the removal of these listings.

I dont think it will be deep in the google index, if one knows where to look

https://www.judyrecords.com/

Re: Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

#45

Post by Farfromthehood »

I have a paid premium subscription with optery. I provided them with minimal informed and have been pleased thus far.

Good customer service. Fairly quick response time.

For years, I've performed monthly searches on my name and naturally submit opt-out requests from whatever data brokers I found.

I signed up for optery using a couple discounts from stack social (or one of those sites).

They found DOZENS of listings under my name. I was surprised+ pissed, but optery has manager to remove most of them. They send a quarterly(?) PDF update containing before and after screenshots of days brokers where my info was once displayed.

I still perform my monthly searches and report any findings to optery. They've been receptive and apologetic whenever I find my info online.

That's my review. Ask questions if you want.

Re: Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

#46

Post by fleetwoodsnack »

beyondd wrote: post #23
troydavis wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're telling me that to remove my info I have to essentially give (through your service) all these companies & data brokers my info so they can opt me out, and actually trust them that they'll do so? Other people raised that concern when this appeared on HN ( https://news.ycombinator.com/context?id=27668140 ), and at the time, that’s indeed what the service did. Even if one ignores intentional misuse, simple inco…

That's certainly one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that if you do nothing, you information will continue to persist, multiply, and propagate unchecked. Those that take the time (or money) to remove the profiles, have dramatically reduced online footprints, which is why these types of services are becoming more and more popular. Many companies are starting to mandate their employees use services like…

> you[sic] information will continue to persist, multiply, and propagate unchecked

Based on how the underlying problem is presented in your own business model, it seems like this will happen regardless of whether a customers uses this service or not. Like conscripting a recruit into a losing battle (and arguably an unwinnable war) at cost to oneself with little specificity as to what qualifies as success.

Re: Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

#47

Post by 9wzYQbTYsAIc »

beyondd wrote: post #31
9wzYQbTYsAIc wrote: post #19

Sounds like a new competitor to DeleteMe.

Optery does compete with DeleteMe. There's some info on how Optery is different than DeleteMe here: https://www.optery.com/introducing-optery-remove-yourself-fr... PCMag also compared Optery and DeleteMe in their review here: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/optery

> Abine’s DeleteMe was among the first services to help users escape the clutches of online data brokers. Like Privacy Bee, it relies on human agents to keep the removals going smoothly and handle any tasks that can’t be automated.

Does Optery not rely on human agents, like Privacy Bee and Delete Me?

Re: Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

#48

Post by beyondd »

benrapscallion wrote: post #27

I’m signed up for this service and while I am generally satisfied, they have placed some of the most common websites in their most expensive tier. If I contact their customer service, they write back with a condescending tone.

We hate to hear that you had a bad experience with our customer support since we take it very seriously and spend a large amount of time on it. We love feedback and respond to all inquiries, so please don’t hesitate to tell us how we can improve either here or through our standard support channel, and we will definitely act on it: https://help.optery.com/

The pricing tiers have to do with how difficult it is to remove consumers from that data broker. Some of the most well-known brokers are also the most difficult to opt out, which is why they’re in the highest priced tier.

Thanks so much for your feedback and for using Optery.

Re: Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

#49

Post by wrongnameta »

I was excited to see a service like this. I hate data brokers and have tried to go to somewhat-great (good?) lengths to obfuscate my personal info, including using e-mails that expose services selling/giving out my info. I signed up and was surprised to see 202 different brokers were offering my info. However, when I looked at the "More Info" drop-down on each, I noticed the last name was incorrect. So I looked at my profile and noticed I misspelled my last name, to a last name I am almost certain does not exist.

Even if it somehow existed, to see it with the same first and middle name and location just seems way too much of a coincidence. Do any of these brokers really have my info or are you just showing this false information to help increase conversions?

Re: Launch HN: Optery (YC W22) – Remove your personal info from the internet

#50

Post by wrongnameta »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #44
opteryqthrow wrote: post #11

Does your service cover websites that scrape arrest records and create pages based off that? I had a public intox arrest that was since expunged/sealed, yet the record persists on a lot of pages deep in the Google index. Would definitely pay for the removal of these listings.

I dont think it will be deep in the google index, if one knows where to look https://www.judyrecords.com/

They disabled search on the site due to some concerns from state AGs, so it's useless at the moment.
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