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MyLife is a people finder and background check website. It is a non-FCRA affiliated freemium service that helps individuals locate other people and view their information on the internet. Also, the company positions itself as a personal reputation manager and monitor, allowing anyone to search for themselves, see their online reputation profiles and scores, and manage what people see on their profiles, if searched. The website manages the reputation profiles of over 325 million persons in the United States of America.
As a freemium product, MyLife allows both free and premium (membership) searches. The search engine works by entering a person's name, address, email, or phone number. Using the free search gives an individual access to basic information on a search subject such as:
- Full legal name
- Age
- Alias(es) or nickname(s)
- Gender
- Known associates
- Places lived
- Reputation score range
- Work history
- Name of high school or college attended
- Court records (if any are found)
Registered members can access more features, such as email search alerts, and more information such as a background report including arrest records, lawsuits, bankruptcies, licenses and permits, relatives, liens, photographs, contact information, sex offender status, and criminal records.
MyLife is a non-FCRA website. This means that it is not a consumer reporting agency, and any information obtained from the site should not be used to make credit, hiring, insurance, or related decisions or transactions under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
In the process of providing search and reputation services to the public, MyLife collects personal information about a person, according to its User Agreement and Privacy Policy. This information may be provided voluntarily by the searcher or subscriber while using the service, or gleaned from other public records or third-party sources.
Types of personal information collected by MyLife include:
- Contact data: phone and fax numbers; physical and electronic addresses
- Demographic information: age, gender, ethnicity, relationship status, etc.
- Payment details: credit/debit card information, billing addresses, etc.
- Registration information: login details (usernames, passwords)
- Social media information
The company can also store data concerning a person's education, employment history, device, or browser. Court information may be saved as well if there are associated lawsuits, criminal records, and more.
MyLife protects a user's personal information and does not share it without the party's consent. However, visiting the website, using the search or reputation service, or registering for a free or premium account qualifies as consent under the User Agreement. As such, the company can sell certain personal information to its service providers and other third parties.
However, it is possible to opt-out of a MyLife membership account or delete a profile/personal data from the platform. While every user has the right to request deletion, California residents have additional rights in collecting, managing, and deleting their personal information per the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Nevertheless, the company does not classify any information that is publicly available on government records as "personal."
How to Opt-Out of MyLife
Opting out of MyLife can be achieved by contacting customer support directly via phone or email. An interested person can follow the steps listed below to opt-out of the service or remove personally identifying data:
- Have the profile's URL: Unregistered users can find a profile URL by entering their names into the MyLife search engine, toggling "this is me," and clicking the search button. Clicking "view my profile" and then "finalize report" will take the searcher to a page where it is necessary to sign in to view the profile. After signing in, do not pay for the report; instead, copy the URL of the profile page. Registered users, on the other hand, can log in to copy their URLs.
- Contact customer service by phone or email: For both requests, it is necessary to have the information mentioned above, along with a full name, street address (including city and state), email address, and phone number to allow MyLife to locate the profile and confirm the requester's identity. For California residents, they will also need to provide a government-issued ID and proof of residence document. According to MyLife's user agreement, section 3.3, a third party cannot request that a reputation profile be removed. It must be the profile's owner or an authorized agent (someone else permitted to represent the profile's owner).
- Phone opt-out requests: Individuals who want to opt-out via phone can read this information or go to the next step for email opt-out requests. The MyLife customer support team receives profile or account removal requests at (888) 704-1900. This is a toll-free number that people can call within these hours: Monday to Friday, 4:00 a.m. through 9:00 p.m., and Saturday to Sunday, 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
- Email opt-out requests: Alternatively, an individual can send a formal request to membersupport@mylife.com to delete a profile or account. The body of the email must contain relevant information to identify the requester and the account/profile.
Note that, in both cases, the applicant will be required to provide a reason for deleting their profile or canceling a subscription/account. The individual can also ask MyLife to send an email confirmation once the profile or an account is deleted. Furthermore, an applicant can confirm if a profile removal request was honored by running a new search to see if the profile still exists. Registered members who wish to disable auto-renewals without deleting their MyLife premium accounts can do so from the "Account" section of their dashboard or contact customer service.
MyLife also uses VWO to learn user interactions. An individual can opt out by visiting the MyLife VWO opt-out website. Note, however, that it is browser-specific. This means that it is necessary to run all browsers used to access MyLife through the opt-out feature.
Occasionally, MyLife employs third-party companies to run advertisements on other websites. The data broker may also share certain information with advertising companies per its privacy policy. However, these establishments may collect user information through cookies and web beacons to tailor advertisements. MyLife does not have any control over how this information is collected, stored, or disbursed. Therefore, a user cannot ask the company to remove the data. Tools like YourAdChoices and NAI opt-out can help remove cookies placed by advertising companies.
A user may, however, request that MyLife send an automated request to remove public records from other third-party websites. This feature is called the "Public Record Remover" and is only available to persons with membership accounts. It should be noted that MyLife does not have any authority over information collected by these websites; therefore, the company can only appeal for removal on behalf of a member. As such, records are removed at the discretion of third-party websites.
Per MyLife's privacy policy, California residents can request that the company stop selling their personal information. The website can be contacted by mail, phone, or email with this request. Usually, it takes 15 business days to process a request. For other persons, the policy is unclear about how they can prevent the company from disclosing their information to third parties, other than opting out as described above.
Lastly, MyLife accepts payments through credit or debit cards and PayPal. Therefore, persons who paid for a MyLife membership plan with a PayPal account are instructed to contact PayPal to cancel billing and prevent subsequent charges.
What Difficulties Exist when Opting Out of MyLife
MyLife processes opt-out or delete account requests within a few hours or a reasonable number of days. However, a person may experience some difficulties in removing this information. For one, the company may refuse to remove information if it is already publicly available—for instance, in government records or on major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. In these cases, it is important to give a strong reason for the opt-out request.
Other times, although MyLife deletes the profile information, it may still pop up on search engine result pages (SERPs) as cached content. In those instances, the affected party is advised to clear browser history or cache and wait at least five business days before searching for the profile again.
However, it is important to note MyLife's "profile remover" disclaimer in the user agreement: section II. Subscription (or Premium Membership) Terms of Service. According to this clause, MyLife does not guarantee that all internet content about a person, designated as private or unwelcome, will be removed, suppressed, or altered, or that requesters will obtain the results they desire.