How to Remove Your Personal Information From People-Search Sites With Claude
A free AI privacy playbook for finding data brokers, sending opt-out requests, and checking again each week.
Your name, old address, phone number, relatives, age, and email can show up on people-search sites.
That is not a small thing.
It is how strangers find where you live. It is how spam gets worse. It is how old data follows you around.
The annoying part is not that removal is impossible.
The annoying part is that it is boring.
One site has a form. One wants an email. One hides the opt-out link. One sends a verify link to your inbox. One removes you, then quietly lists you again later.
Doing this by hand across dozens or hundreds of sites can kill an afternoon.
This is the kind of work AI should do.
Not because AI is a lawyer. It is not.
Not because AI should send private forms without you looking. It should not.
Because this job is mostly search, copy, paste, track, check, and repeat.
So the workflow is simple:
Claude finds the people-search and data-broker sites.
Claude finds the opt-out page for each one.
Claude writes the removal request.
Claude opens each page and fills it out.
You approve before anything gets sent.
You click any email verify links yourself.
Claude checks again every week.
This is a free Genius B*tchwork playbook. Take it slow. Use a spare email. Do not paste your Social Security number, bank account numbers, or full ID into any AI chat.
The quick safety note
This is not legal advice.
Privacy rights depend on where you live and which site has your data.
In California, the CCPA gives people the right to ask many covered businesses to delete personal information, with some exceptions. California also has a data-broker system called DROP. It lets Californians send one delete request to registered data brokers, and data brokers must process those requests under the Delete Act schedule.
In the EU, the GDPR has a right to erasure in some cases.
In the US, the FTC says people-search sites usually have opt-out steps, and that after you opt out, the site should stop selling the existing info it has about you. The FTC also warns that your info can come back if it gets pulled again from public records.
So here is the plain version:
Use the law where it applies. Use the site's opt-out path where that is the faster route. Keep proof. Recheck later.
What you need before you start
You need Claude Desktop with Cowork.
You need a folder Claude can use as the workspace.
You need a spare email address. Some sites send a verify link. Do not make your main inbox the place where all these sites start sending mail.
You need the basic details the sites may ask for:
Your full name.
City and state.
The spare email.
The old address or phone number only when the site already shows it and needs it to match the record.
You also need one rule:
Claude fills. You approve. You click email links yourself.
Step 1: Find every site selling or listing you
Open Claude Desktop.
Open Cowork.
Open a folder you can use for this project.
Then paste this.
Search the internet for everything you can find about me. Find every data-broker and people-search site selling, listing, or sharing my personal information. Put it in a table: site name, exactly what of mine it shows (address, phone, relatives), the direct opt-out link, and the next step required.
Name: [your full name] · City: [city, state] · Email: [your email]Replace the brackets first.
Claude should return a list. You want site name, what it shows, the opt-out link, and what to do next.
Do not panic if the list is ugly.
That is the point.
The mess is now in a table instead of in your head.
Step 2: Make Claude write the removal requests
Now send the second prompt in the same chat.
For every site in that table, write the exact removal request that site requires - filled-out form, email text, or letter. Cite the relevant privacy law (CCPA, GDPR, or state law). Keep my details consistent across all of them, and request written confirmation within 30 days.Claude should now turn the table into a removal packet.
For a form, it should list what goes in each field.
For an email, it should write the email.
For a letter, it should write the letter.
If a site does not clearly fall under a law where you live, Claude should still use the site's own opt-out policy and ask for removal.
Step 3: Have Claude fill the forms, with approval
Now send Prompt 3.
Turn on Cowork first. Then: go to every site in the table, open the opt-out page, fill in my details, and ask for my approval before submitting each one. If a site needs email verification, tell me which inbox to check. Mark each row done, skipped, or needs-me.This is where you slow down.
Do not let AI submit forms blind.
Have it fill the page. Read the page. Approve the send.
If a site asks you to click a verify link by email, that part is yours.
If a site asks for too much private info, pause.
Some sites ask for ID. Some ask for a current address. Some ask for a phone number. Make Claude explain why the site asks before you give anything extra.
Step 4: Make the cleanup repeat every week
The bad part about data brokers is that removal is not always forever.
Your record can come back.
So the weekly check matters.
Send Prompt 4.
Set up a scheduled task that runs every week. Recheck every site, resubmit any request that was ignored, and re-remove any site that re-listed me - until I no longer appear anywhere. Escalate any site that ignores 2+ requests with a complaint drafted to the FTC or my state AG. Send me a weekly summary of what's left.If Claude calls it a routine instead of a scheduled task, that is fine. The point is the same.
You want the task to recheck the same list, update the table, and tell you what is left.
What to put in the tracking table
Have Claude keep a file in the workspace called:
data-removal-tracker.mdTell it to track:
Site name.
Profile URL.
What data it showed.
Opt-out link.
Request sent date.
Email verify needed.
Status.
Next check date.
Notes.
Status should be simple:
Found.
Request sent.
Needs email click.
Removed.
Re-listed.
Escalate.
Skip.
This keeps you from doing the same site twice.
It also gives you proof if a site ignores you.
What AI cannot do for you
AI cannot make a legal right appear if your state or country does not give you one.
AI cannot promise every site will remove every record.
AI cannot erase public records at the source.
AI should not click email verify links for you.
AI should not upload your ID without you reading the request first.
AI should not make legal threats it cannot back up.
AI can do the boring part:
Find the site. Find the form. Write the request. Fill the fields. Track the reply. Recheck next week.
That is enough to make this worth doing.
The exact prompts
Run these in order, in the same Claude Cowork chat.
Prompt 1 - Find every site
Search the internet for everything you can find about me. Find every data-broker and people-search site selling, listing, or sharing my personal information. Put it in a table: site name, exactly what of mine it shows (address, phone, relatives), the direct opt-out link, and the next step required.
Name: [your full name] · City: [city, state] · Email: [your email]Prompt 2 - Write the requests
For every site in that table, write the exact removal request that site requires - filled-out form, email text, or letter. Cite the relevant privacy law (CCPA, GDPR, or state law). Keep my details consistent across all of them, and request written confirmation within 30 days.Prompt 3 - Submit them for me
Turn on Cowork first. Then: go to every site in the table, open the opt-out page, fill in my details, and ask for my approval before submitting each one. If a site needs email verification, tell me which inbox to check. Mark each row done, skipped, or needs-me.Prompt 4 - Keep me gone
Set up a scheduled task that runs every week. Recheck every site, resubmit any request that was ignored, and re-remove any site that re-listed me - until I no longer appear anywhere. Escalate any site that ignores 2+ requests with a complaint drafted to the FTC or my state AG. Send me a weekly summary of what's left.Run Prompt 1 tonight.
Worst case, you find nothing.
Best case, you find the sites selling your data and make them deal with you.