Here’s a pretty good video that explains what Incogni and their ilk are and aren’t.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX3JT6q3AxA

They pretty much just remove you from all those different people finder websites. Not the data brokers that Meta (etc) sell to/from.

It’s still beneficial if you can afford it, but more likely to protect you from targeted scams or stalkers etc.

No, I would never trust them. General rule of thumb: don’t trust Youtube advertisements. They seem very sketchy to me. Why would these companies and data brokers willingly delete your data by just asking? Not to mention that it would instantly resurface in a million other areas. The best thing to do is to instead not give out that information in general, or not make it obvious who you are.

This is fantastic, thank you.

Yes they do what they say on the tin. You get fewer spearphishing attempts and stuff like that.

You don’t get fewer targeted ads. You are less likely to end up in private databases that law enforcement makes use of when they don’t want to or aren’t allowed to run you through the official systems.

If all you care about is the specter of big tech and ads then it’s not gonna make you happy. If you’re trying to spend less time figuring out if something is a legit email or a scam, or you want there to be less of a chance for cops to id you in a third party db then you may see some real benefits.

I know nothing about these services but intuitively this shit rings true:

• the whole setup is kinda unfalsifiable - who’s to say how many of them “brokers” are out there and if they contacted all of them and what the outcome is/was
• advertising all over the place implies a scammy business model; life’s too short to figure out what the scam exactly is
• related, almost every piece of shit advertising all over the podcast world turned out to be a piece of shit
• the threat vector of you voluntarily supplying them complete and detailed personal info (so they can find you everywhere) cannot be overstated
• they’re motivated to keep you on the hook for a long time; it’s not a pay-once thing, it’s a subscription thing - alarm bells should be going off
• finally, paying for that looks to me like them going to the “broker” and divvying up the cash, if not outright being their affiliate

same way how you don’t send “unsubscribe” proof-of-life to spammers, I’d stay the fuck away.

Further reading: arstechnica.com/…/its-not-worth-paying-to-be-remo…

Tldr: They aren’t very effective, and none better than the next. However, they do more than nothing so get the cheap one (EasyOptOuts)

Ive been using them for two years. Negligibly cheap, like $20/year. Once a year they send a text email report. “We removed you from these sites… We tried to remove you from these sites… These sites have technical issues preventing removal…”

It does work to some extent because when I try to find myself on big people search sites like BeenVerified, I can’t find myself. And I used to be listed. 100% worth thr money imo. You can always subscribe for a year and then cancel.