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PeekYou is a web-based software used to perform people searches on the internet. With this search engine, persons can find their friends, family, and colleagues online at no cost. Often, individuals who use the website do so because they want to contact or locate someone, and cannot get their information any other way.
Users have two choices when searching PeekYou's index. They can either search with a username or use a first name, last name, and location to pull data from the system. PeekYou gathers information from social platforms, blogs, news sources, and more to provide an individual's online identity.
Search results include email, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Medium, Reddit, and Tinder profiles. Searchers can also view a short biography of the sought-after person, including age, gender, username, residence, place of work, former residence(s), areas visited, high school or college attended, hobbies, image, related persons, and favorite music/films.
Though the information provided by PeekYou is free, it still redirects users to other sites like BeenVerified, TruthFinder, PeopleLooker, and InstantCheckmate for additional and comprehensive paid reports. The website processes millions of requests each month.
As a condition for using the search engine, PeekYou stores each user's personal and general details. This information is saved from online queries and offline inquiries. It is used to personalize services, respond to requests, advertise products, prevent fraud and policy breaches, send promotional emails or messages, and other related business or commercial reasons. The company groups this collated data into four categories:
- Information that the user provides: This refers to contact, search, demographic, and other personal details provided willingly when a person uses the software or contacts customer service with a request or inquiry. Examples of this data include names, phone numbers, ages, countries, email and mail addresses, usernames, and genders.
- Information collected from website activity or traffic: Just as PeekYou stores certain identifying data with each search, other less-specific information is collected automatically when an individual visits the website. This includes usage data (pages visited, time spent, links clicked), device type, computer software, browser type, cookies, location data, and web beacons.
- Information received from third parties: PeekYou collects personal data from third-party sources to fetch search results. It also buys this data from some sources (e.g. other data brokers) to broaden results, and partners with others for advertising or marketing purposes. Furthermore, the company gathers information when a person interacts with owned social media pages or gives the company permission to access their social media data.
- Information collected by third parties: Often, PeekYou will provide search result links to other public records websites. By clicking on these websites, a user is subject to their policies and rules. PeekYou does not regulate data collected by those websites. Therefore, the company cannot delete this information upon request.
Per the organization's privacy policy, user information may be shared with other entities (vendors, partners, service providers), sometimes with the user's consent. Other instances include when disclosure is mandated by law or because of a merger or acquisition. PeekYou can also share data to protect rights, privacy, life, and security.
For data that falls under the company's privacy policy and terms of use, a person may decide to erase their personal information by opting out of the service.
How to Opt-Out of PeekYou
Individuals can remove their personal information from PeekYou at any time. They can also restrict the website from selling their data.
To delete personal information from PeekYou, a user must take the following steps:
- Visit the PeekYou OptOut page to complete the form.
- Fill in a first name, last name, email address, and unique ID (the set of numbers displayed at the tail-end of a profile's URL).
- Answer the reCAPTCHA and check the disclaimer boxes.
- Click "Submit".
Alternatively, the requester can enter a name and location into the PeekYou search engine to display results. Each profile has an "opt-out" link near the corresponding name. Clicking on this link redirects the applicant to the same online form above. However, the first name, last name, and unique ID boxes are automatically filled.
The company can also be mailed at the address below with a written opt-out request:
PeekYou
PO Box 705
Ashburn, VA 20146
PeekYou grants residents of California additional rights per the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2018. Under this Act, state residents can request and delete personal information collected by PeekYou, and opt-out of the service. The company provides an online form on the Right to Delete and Right to Know page for persons who want to wield this right. The interested party can also email the company at info@peekyou.com to request deletion.
Furthermore, users can prevent the company from selling their information by submitting a request online or via email to info@peekyou.com.
Usually, upon submitting an opt-out request, the company sends an email within a few days to verify the applicant's identity and confirm the request. After which, the data will be scrapped from the system.
What Difficulties Exist when Opting Out of PeekYou
Members of the public can generally opt-out of PeekYou without expending too much effort. Opting out of PeekYou can be easily achieved by submitting an online form, sending a mail request to the company, or emailing customer support at info@peekyou.com.
While PeekYou promises to remove personal information from its site within a couple of days after a request, the requester's information may still appear in search results. One reason for this is that PeekYou partners with multiple data aggregators and public records websites. This can result in the applicant's information still showing up when searched because PeekYou periodically sources data from those sites. For every opt-out request made to PeekYou, the company will only delete the personal data collected in the process of providing its services to the public. The rest may still be available on the internet.
However, concerned parties may remove their information by visiting other data aggregator sites to opt-out or adjust their privacy settings to limit the data collected by third parties.