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CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

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Re: CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

#141

A not-so-secret dirty little secret is that many of the reputation management agencies also own many of the public records websites that publish mug shots, court records, and so on. When you hire them to remove that information from the internet it puts you into a cycle of being removed from one or two of their website and added to something else. You end up in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. Complete with month…

That sounds like credit bureaus.

You know, those entities that hoover up any and all info on you, that you cannot opt out of, maintain information whether its accurate or not and refuse to delete obviously erroneous data, then release it *all* to the world by being extremely poor stewards of said data, then charging you for credit monitoring for the rest of your life, since your immutable info just got shared with assholes.

Guess who owns most/all of the credit monitoring entities?

Edit: typo...words are hard.

Re: CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

#142
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used Onerep until I was told it was shady. I now use Optery ( https://www.optery.com/ ) which is a YC company. I'd love to hear if there are any issues with it. The problem is there are 200+ data brokers out there and I don't have time to deal with that many.

Yeah, I saw when they announced on here, I think. One question: Do you know if they pay the data brokers a percentage?

I have no idea. I hope not.

They submit opt-out removals though, so one would think that if they paid the data broker they would not have to go through that trouble?

Re: CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

#143
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used Onerep until I was told it was shady. I now use Optery ( https://www.optery.com/ ) which is a YC company. I'd love to hear if there are any issues with it. The problem is there are 200+ data brokers out there and I don't have time to deal with that many.

Why is it monthly? What happens if you don’t renew?

Yeah I have the same concern. Are there any better options, short of hiring a human secretary, which I don't have the money for?

My first priority is not having my personal info listed on the internet; ethics of where my money is going is second.

Re: CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

#144
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure you can tell the difference between the two.

> I'm pretty sure you can tell the difference between the two. Paying money so you don’t get roughed up looks pretty much the same whether it’s a bandit or a king doing it.

Here in the US there aren't a lot of kings, but if you have the fortune of living in a commonwealth nation, you're free to get rid of yours.

Unless you're in the UK, though, King Charles is not exactly asking for anything from you.

Re: CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

#145
A bit off-topic, could someone explain how data brokers operate?

I've been involved in the development of B2B SaaS solutions, and there are a few providers, such as ZoomInfo, Apollo, and Clearbit, that greatly assist the sales team in gaining a deeper understanding of customers. It seems that venture capitalists love those businesses.

Has anyone attempted to create similar companies that offer Data as a Service?

Re: CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

#146

A not-so-secret dirty little secret is that many of the reputation management agencies also own many of the public records websites that publish mug shots, court records, and so on. When you hire them to remove that information from the internet it puts you into a cycle of being removed from one or two of their website and added to something else. You end up in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. Complete with month…

That sounds like credit bureaus. You know, those entities that hoover up any and all info on you, that you cannot opt out of, maintain information whether its accurate or not and refuse to delete obviously erroneous data, then release it *all* to the world by being extremely poor stewards of said data, then charging you for credit monitoring for the rest of your life, since your immutable info just got shared with as…

Luckily you can mail them a permanent opt out for most of that stuff. IIRC, it removes your name from the searchable list of info 3rd parties use for marketing.

Additionally, if you haven't, freeze your credit at all bureaus including LexisNexis.

Re: CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how Hans Reiser is an example of this. He was convicted of murder and nothing about his case (that I could find) seems to indicate that he used "clever dodges" to skirt the law.

if one followed the case at the time Reiser seemed very much the stereotype of the really superclever person who figured they were smarter than all those dumb folks who were never going to catch him and it all fell apart real quick. Then when it fell apart he dropped back to arguing he just looked guilty because he was too smart to look innocent or something https://yro.slashdot.org/story/08/02/23/2218256/hans-reiser…

I see what you mean. There is some nuance to that which wasn't captured in the Wikipedia article or my general awareness of the details about the case.

Re: CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like credit bureaus. You know, those entities that hoover up any and all info on you, that you cannot opt out of, maintain information whether its accurate or not and refuse to delete obviously erroneous data, then release it *all* to the world by being extremely poor stewards of said data, then charging you for credit monitoring for the rest of your life, since your immutable info just got shared with as…

Luckily you can mail them a permanent opt out for most of that stuff. IIRC, it removes your name from the searchable list of info 3rd parties use for marketing. Additionally, if you haven't, freeze your credit at all bureaus including LexisNexis.

I've frozen all of mine, because thanks to Equifax, I don't have a choice.

I wish you good luck opting out. I'm not talking about what the law says, I'm talking about how they act.

Technically, you can dispute incorrect info. What that dispute amounts to is the bureau asking the entity if it's accurate. No proof needed. If they say it's accurate, then you're stuck with it, until you jump through many, many more hoops.

Re: CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

#149
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think that’s bad unless the seller claims to be representing the causes they’re selling for.

They do via their advertising copy, which strongly implies it. The productization of opinion is a Bad Thing in my view, for the simple reason that it becomes profitable to stoke conflict and commercial entities are therefore incentivized to do so.

You think this is bad? Wait until you see what the "news" media does!

Re: CEO of data privacy company Onerep.com founded dozens of people-search firms

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tbf putting up cash is a great signal for 'not a spammer'.

Not really it's just a cost of doing business and if paying that cost "legitimizes" you then the ROI is probably significant.

Similar to a mafia coming to your small business and telling you you need to pay to stay open, otherwise they’ll make sure you. Still just the cost of business? Seems more like a power imbalance.
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