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AllPeople is a US website designed and intended for US audiences. It is the largest free online directory of business contacts in the country. Members of the public can use this directory to find leads for companies: their names, professional positions, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, etc. Generally, individuals can search the directory using the following criteria:
- Name
- Industry
- Telephone number
The user simply needs to input the subject's name, city, state, and ZIP or area code to use the name search criteria. To use the industry search feature, the user must input the industry's name and the city, state, or zip code. Because the website is an extensive database that aggregates business contact and information, it is used primarily by business professionals to find information on other professionals. In addition to name searches, users can also perform a reverse phone or email lookup to obtain more details on the professional associated with the contact information.
The data provided by AllPeople is general public information. The website sources and aggregates this information from government entities and other third-party sites. Additionally, it also collects user information. Because the website gathers and posts public data online, it allows users to opt-out of the service when they want to remove their information from public view.
How to Opt-Out of AllPeople
AllPeople allows users to safeguard their online privacy by providing a means for them to opt-out of the service or remove their information from the website. To remove a record, the user must follow these steps:
Search for the relevant listing by typing a full name and city/state or zip code into the search bar. Click the search button.
Peruse the search results to correctly identify the listing of choice, the one with the individual's information. If multiple listings are found, they must be deleted one after the other as they cannot be deleted at once. Instead, the individual must go through the same opt-out process for each listing.
After finding the listing of choice, there is a link to "edit" or "remove" the listing in the upper-righthand corner. Click "remove" to initiate the opt-out process. Otherwise, modify the content of the listing by editing it.
The system will ask why the user intends to perform this action. Here, the requester must select the appropriate reason, solve the reCAPTCHA, and click "Submit." This action officially submits the individual's opt-out request to AllPeople.
Although AllPeople does not specify how long this process takes, the individual may check back in about 48 hours to confirm that the desired listing has been removed. If it has been too long, maybe more than a few days, the individual may contact the company directly for a status update.
What Difficulties Exist when Opting Out of AllPeople
The opt-out process attempts to protect an individual's online privacy, but it is not a foolproof solution in safeguarding personal information. This is because if a business professional's information is on AllPeople, it is most likely on other data broker sites.
According to AllPeople's terms of use and privacy policy, the site is intended for general audiences. As a result, if an individual posts content for public view on the site, the system may share such public content to a broader audience, such as a third-party site. Hence, even if the information is removed from AllPeople, it may remain accessible on other similar websites.
In this case, individuals are advised to conduct an audit of their online presence to know which sites have the listings they intend to remove. Then, they must initiate and go through the opt-out process for each data broker website or use a mass opt-out website to remove their personal information.