Your Digital Footprint
In the digital world we live in, we are constantly interacting with companies and entities which create and leave behind a digital footprint. Though we don’t always realize it, many of these records are publicly available and, in many cases, this is because of state laws or the terms and conditions of websites and apps that we interact with.
This information is gathered and indexed to create profiles of almost everyone in the United States and the companies that combine this information together are known as data brokers.
Data Brokers
Some data brokers make this information for legal professionals, law enforcement, employers, and lenders while others make public information easily accessible to the public.
Background checks and credit checks are used every day – very often through data brokers – to assist in official decision making for employment and credit decisions. In addition, millions of people have used publicly available people search tools for useful purposes like reconnecting with old friends and loved ones and validating new relationships.
USA Trace was developed by private investigators and legal professionals who have used data brokers for official purposes as part of our professions. We understand where to find information and the types of information available.
However, USA Trace is not a data broker – we do not store any information, nor do we have access to the information contained in the public record profiles. USA Trace has instead partnered with data brokers and created different ways to find these profiles. One of the ways we do this is with the search results seen on USA Trace, which are previews of the full data available with our partners. However, we don’t even store this incomplete preview information.
Your Information is Yours
Though USA Trace is not the source of records, it is important to us that our partners do not share or sell certain types of data. This information includes social security numbers, ethnicity information, and sexual orientation (among others), which we believe should be private.
Additionally, though we do not control the information available at the brokers – or public records sources where the information comes from – we understand that you may not want your profile information to be stored with these data brokers.
Opt Out
Most data brokers have a process to opt out your information. This will, in turn, remove it from any other sites that preview this data, including sites like USA Trace.
Though USA Trace does not have your information – nor can we remove it from its source – we can block the preview information seen on USA Trace from appearing.
To do this, you will need to identify the profile that relates to you using the search below. If you find a matching profile, use the copy button next to it and paste it in an email addressed to research [@] usatrace.com with “Block Info” in the subject line. We will reply when the block has been completed.
It is important to note that this does not remove the information from the source – it only blocks it from appearing on USATrace.com – and the changes may take up to 48-hours to be reflected across all servers.
We will only accommodate one name/profile combination per person as each individual must make their own block request.