About OptOut Shelf

OptOut Shelf covers one corner of online privacy: data removal subscription services. What they actually remove, how quickly brokers re-list you after a confirmed removal, and where the gap sits between a service's progress report and what a real search turns up. Not VPN roundups, not password managers, not general security advice. Just data removal.

The site started in early 2024, when a Google search of my own name turned up my home address, my wife's maiden name, and relatives going back to my grandparents on three people-search sites I'd never interacted with. I run a digital marketing consultancy, so I understand how information gets indexed. That afternoon was still a surprise. Over the two years since, I paid for multiple removal subscriptions, manually opted out of more than 50 individual data brokers, and kept notes on which services did what they claimed and which sent polished summaries that didn't hold up against an actual search.

That record became this site. Every review covers a service I paid for and tested against my own data. The same spreadsheet I use to track broker re-listings is the one behind the articles.

Find out more on the author page.

Some outbound links here are affiliate links, meaning I get paid a small commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. I don't collect or store any data about which links you click. For more on how the editorial side handles affiliate relationships, see my Editorial Policy.