I automated opt-outs for 500 data broker sites (open source)

Open-source macOS tool called "auto-identity-remove" that automates the process of opting out of over 500 data broker and people-search sites. The script runs monthly, uses AI-powered CAPTCHA solving, tracks completed opt-outs to avoid resubmission, and sends iMessage notifications with results. The tool is designed for users who want a free, self-hosted alternative to paid data removal services.

Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS, Linux, and Windows. Removes your personal information from 500+ people-search sites and data broker databases on a monthly schedule - with CAPTCHA solving, persistent state tracking so completed opt-outs aren't resubmitted every run , and an iMessage notification when done. Privacy & data flow - Each month, the script: Searches each data broker site for your name + state Finds your specific listing for sites that need a profile URL Fills and submits the opt-out form automatically Solves CAPTCHAs via CapSolver https://capsolver.com AI-powered, ~$0.001/solve Skips brokers you were already removed from recently 90-day re-check window Sends you an iMessage with the results summary Opens any sites that require manual action in your browser - Node.js 18+ - macOS, Linux, or Windows scheduling adapts automatically Playwright https://playwright.dev browsers installed npx playwright install chromium 1. Clone the repo git clone https://github.com/stephenlthorn/auto-identity-remove.git cd auto-identity-remove 2. Install dependencies npm install 3. Run interactive setup creates config.json and schedules the monthly job node setup.js 4. Run manually anytime ./run.sh node setup.js guides you through: | Step | What it does | |---|---| Personal info | Name, city, state, ZIP, email, phone | Aliases | Past names or variations e.g. "Steve Doe" | CapSolver key | For CAPTCHA-protected opt-out forms | One-time accounts | Creates accounts on sites that require login stored in config.json , gitignored | iMessage | Phone number to text the results summary to | Monthly schedule | Registers a monthly job to run on the 1st at 9am launchd / systemd / crontab / schtasks - detected automatically | Your personal info never leaves your machine. config.json and state.json are both gitignored. Some opt-out forms have reCAPTCHA. Without CapSolver, those sites go to your manual list instead of being handled automatically. - Sign up at capsolver.com https://capsolver.com - free, pay-as-you-go - Add $1-2 of credits enough for months of use at ~$0.001/solve - Paste your API key when setup.js asks, or add it to config.json : "capsolver": { "apiKey": "CAP-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" } CapSolver is optional.Without it, CAPTCHA-protected sites are flagged as manual and opened in your browser for completion. Pass --no-capsolver to skip them entirely rather than opening the browser. The included Dockerfile uses the official Playwright image, so Chromium and all system dependencies are pre-installed. No Mac required. Build the image once docker build -t auto-identity-remove . Dry-run no opt-out forms submitted, no network calls docker run --rm \ -v $ pwd /config.json:/app/config.json \ -v $ pwd /state.json:/app/state.json \ auto-identity-remove node watcher.js --dry-run Full run docker run --rm \ -v $ pwd /config.json:/app/config.json \ -v $ pwd /state.json:/app/state.json \ auto-identity-remove Persistent state: mount state.json so completed opt-outs are remembered between container runs. If the file does not exist yet, create an empty one first: echo '{}' state.json . When running headless or in Docker you won't have iMessage or a desktop - use a webhook instead. Set notify.webhook in config.json to any ntfy.sh, Slack incoming-webhook, or Discord webhook URL: "notify": { "textTo": "", "webhook": "https://ntfy.sh/my-private-channel" } The tool POSTs {"text": "<summary "} after every run. Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows - the webhook fires in addition to not instead of any platform notification that is available. auto-identity-remove/ ├── setup.js ← Run once: interactive setup + scheduling ├── watcher.js ← Main runner ├── brokers.js ← Broker list with opt-out strategies ├── run.sh ← Manual trigger ├── config.example.json ← Template copy → config.json ├── package.json ├── .gitignore │ ├── config.json ← YOUR personal info gitignored, created by setup.js ├── state.json ← Opt-out history / skip logic gitignored └── logs/ ← Per-run JSON logs gitignored state.json tracks when each broker was last successfully opted out. The default re-check window is 90 days - brokers typically re-add your data within that window, so the script re-submits when it's time. { "optOuts": { "Spokeo": { "lastSuccess": "2026-05-01T09:00:00.000Z", "totalRuns": 3, "detail": "" } } } On each run you'll see: ✅ Submitted form accepted - opt-out form was submitted this run 📧 Awaiting email confirm - broker replied "check your email to confirm"; click the link in your inbox. Auto-retried after 14 days if still pending. ⏭ Skipped fresh - removed recently, re-check not due yet 🔍 Not listed - your name wasn't found on that site 📋 Manual needed - opened in your browser for you to handle ❌ Error - network/timeout issue, will retry next run 💀 Dead stale URL - broker URL is gone DNS/404 ; not counted as an error Submitted ≠ confirmed deleted.Use node watcher.js --verify for spot-check verification. See STATUS.md for a per-broker confidence table. This tool covers 500+ data brokers in two tiers: | Tier | Count | Confidence | |---|---|---| Explicit brokers | 42 | Hand-mapped with specific selectors. verified entries have been tested live; untested ones may have drifted since they were added. | Generic runner | ~490 | Best-effort heuristic - tries 4 strategies Do Not Sell click, OneTrust/TrustArc, generic form, DSAR link . Many succeed; some fail silently. | The ✅ Submitted count means the form was accepted by the broker. It does not prove deletion. To check: - Run node watcher.js --verify - re-searches each broker where a successful opt-out was recorded and reports whether your name still appears. - Look at the 📧 Awaiting email confirm section after each run - these are half-done until you click the link. If you want to know exactly which brokers are hand-verified vs heuristic, see STATUS.md /stephenlthorn/auto-identity-remove/blob/main/STATUS.md . | Site | Method | |---|---| | Spokeo | Search → find listing → opt-out form | | WhitePages | Search → find listing → suppression form | | FastPeopleSearch | Search → opt-out form | | TruePeopleSearch | Direct opt-out form | | BeenVerified | Opt-out search form | | Radaris | Search → privacy form | | Intelius | Direct opt-out form | | PeopleFinders | Direct opt-out form | | PeopleSmart | Direct opt-out form | | MyLife | Search → opt-out | | Nuwber | Search → removal form | | FamilyTreeNow | Direct opt-out form | | CheckPeople | Direct opt-out form | | ThatsThem | Direct opt-out form | | USPhonebook | Direct opt-out form | | PublicDataUSA | Direct opt-out form | | SmartBackgroundChecks | Direct opt-out form | | SearchPeopleFree | Direct opt-out form | | PeopleSearchNow | Direct opt-out form | | InfoTracer | Direct opt-out form | | SocialCatfish | Direct opt-out form | | NationalPublicData | Direct opt-out form | | ClustrMaps | Direct opt-out form | | PrivateRecords | Direct opt-out form | Acxiom | Direct form feeds dozens of downstream brokers | LexisNexis | Direct form legal/financial data | ZoomInfo | Direct form B2B professional data | Clearbit | Direct form B2B enrichment data | | Pipl | Email opt-out via Mail.app | generic-runner.js handles the remaining ~470 brokers from two public datasets: | Dataset | Source | Count | |---|---|---| | BADBOOL https://github.com/yaelwrites/Big-Ass-Data-Broker-Opt-Out-List For each site it tries four strategies in order: - Click a "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" button - Opt out via OneTrust / TrustArc / Osano privacy manager - Fill any generic opt-out form email, name, state and submit - Find and record a DSAR / data request link for manual follow-up Sites requiring manual action are opened in your browser automatically. | Site | Why manual | |---|---| | Google - Results About You | Requires Google account interaction | | Google - Outdated Content | Case-by-case URL submission | Edit brokers.js and add an entry: { name: 'NewBrokerSite', method: 'direct-form', // or 'search-form', 'email', 'manual' optOutUrl: 'https://example.com/opt-out', formFields: { 'input name ="first" i ': F, // F, L, N, E, ST, Z are from config 'input name ="last" i ': L, 'input type="email" ': E, }, submitSelector: 'button type="submit" ', captchaLikely: false, priority: 2, } PRs welcome - especially for brokers with verified working selectors. ./run.sh Dry-run mode - navigates to each site and fills forms but does NOT submit anything. Good for verifying what the script will do before your first real run: node watcher.js --dry-run Or to run in the background and log output: ./run.sh logs/manual-run.log 2 &1 & Run a read-only spot-check to see whether previous opt-outs are still in effect: node watcher.js --verify This opens a browser, searches each broker where you have a recorded successful opt-out, and reports what it finds. No forms are submitted, nothing is written to state.json . Output is grouped into three sections: | Section | Meaning | |---|---| VERIFIED CLEAR | Your name was not found in the broker's search today | STILL LISTED | A listing was found - the opt-out may have failed, or your data was re-added | UNVERIFIABLE | The broker uses a direct-form, email, or manual method - no automated search signal exists to check | A dated JSON report is saved to logs/verify-YYYY-MM-DD.json . Important caveats: - Only search-form brokers those with a searchUrl and listingPattern can be checked automatically. Direct-form and email opt-outs are always unverifiable . - "Verified clear" means your name was not found in one search today. It is not a legal guarantee of deletion. Brokers routinely re-ingest data from upstream sources. - "Still listed" can mean the opt-out failed or the broker re-added your data since the last successful opt-out was recorded. Either way, re-running node watcher.js will attempt removal again. - If the broker's search page is down or slow, the result is classified as unverifiable a timeout is not counted as "still listed" . WARNING: This feature may violate broker Terms of Service.Submitting fabricated opt-out requests to data broker sites is ethically questionable and could expose you to legal risk. Use at your own discretion. This feature isoff by defaultand is provided only as a research/experimental tool. The --pollute N flag submits N randomly-generated fake person records to data brokers that are explicitly tagged acceptsBogus: true in brokers.js . The goal inspired by a suggestion on HN is to flood broker databases with junk records, degrading the accuracy of their search results. Submit 10 bogus records to each acceptsBogus broker node watcher.js --pollute 10 Each fake record uses: - A random name from a small fixture list not real people - A US city/state/zip from a fixture of 50+ valid combos not your address - A 10-digit phone with an area code valid for the fake state - A randomised firstname.lastname+XXXXXX@gmail.com email Only brokers tagged acceptsBogus: true in brokers.js will receive noise submissions. Currently tagged: ThatsThem, SearchPeopleFree, PeopleSearchNow, InfoTracer, SocialCatfish. These are direct-form brokers with no SSN/DOB gate. Regular opt-outs run first - noise submissions happen after the normal run. The --pollute flag has no effect on your real opt-out submissions. The Markup dataset is years old; many of the ~489 generic opt-out URLs now 404 or fail DNS lookup. These are classified as 💀 Dead stale URL in run output and do not count as errors. After several runs have accumulated in logs/ , trim permanently-dead hostnames from future runs so they are skipped without any network request: node scripts/prune-dead.js The script: - Reads every logs/run- .json file - Finds hostnames whose status was dead in every run they appeared in - Merges them into data/dead-urls.json deduped, sorted - Prints a summary of how many new hosts were added The script is idempotent - running it twice produces no change. You can add it as a post-run step or run it manually whenever you want to prune the dead list. data/dead-urls.json is committed to the repo so the dead list is shared with all clones. | Platform | Command | |---|---| macOS launchd | launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.auto-identity-remove.plist then rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.auto-identity-remove.plist | Linux systemd | systemctl --user disable --now auto-identity-remove.timer then rm ~/.config/systemd/user/auto-identity-remove.{service,timer} | Linux crontab fallback | Run crontab -e and delete the auto-identity-remove line | Windows schtasks | schtasks /Delete /TN auto-identity-remove /F | This tool supports non-US users with a few important caveats. setup.js will prompt for Country 2-letter ISO code, e.g. CA , GB , AU and then replace the US-centric "State" / "ZIP code" prompts with Province/Region and Postal code prompts that accept any format K1A 0A6 , SW1A 1AA , 2000 , etc. with no coercion.- Phone numbers for non-US users are stored verbatim - no xxx xxx-xxxx reformatting is applied. lib/forms.js automatically tries province/postal/postcode HTML field variants e.g. input name ="province" , input name ="postcode" when filling forms for non-US users, with no change needed in broker definitions.- A country <select on opt-out forms is targeted and filled with your 2-letter country code when present. - Global brokers ZoomInfo, Clearbit, Acxiom, Radaris, etc. are attempted for all users. The following brokers are flagged usOnly: true and are silently skipped when your configured country is not US . These sites index US public records, voter data, or phone directories - a non-US person definitionally has no record to remove there: | Broker | Reason | |---|---| | Spokeo | US people-search state-keyed search | | WhitePages | US white-pages directory | | FastPeopleSearch | US people-search | | TruePeopleSearch | US people-search | | BeenVerified | US background-check requires US state | | USPhonebook | US phone directory | | PublicDataUSA | US public records | All other brokers in the list are attempted regardless of country. US people-search sites Spokeo , WhitePages , etc. hold records sourced from US public records - if you have never lived in the US, your data is very unlikely to appear on these sites. The script skips them for you automatically. A fair concern raised by some users: aren't you just confirming your data to the brokers by filling out their forms? A few things worth knowing: These brokers already have your info. You're not revealing anything new - you're using the legally-required removal mechanism they're obligated to provide. CCPA California and similar state laws require brokers to honor opt-out requests. Submitting the form creates a legal obligation to remove you. Doing nothing does not. The script uses info you're already listed under - your name as it appears publicly, your state, your email. It doesn't add new data points. The alternative is worse. Every month that passes, more brokers scrape and resell your data. Opt-outs are imperfect, but they work more often than not. That said: if you're in a situation where even confirming your email address to a broker is a risk, this tool is not the right approach. Consider a paid service that uses a proxy email. California is launching an official Delete Me opt-out registry on August 1, 2025. Once registered, data brokers are legally required to delete your info automatically - no individual form submissions needed for participating brokers. Register at: optoutregistry.oag.ca.gov live August 1 Recommended: Register with the CA Delete Registry first, then run this script for the brokers that aren't covered. Paid services like Incogni https://incogni.com $96/yr or Optery https://optery.com $39/yr are excellent and cover more brokers with professionally maintained opt-out flows. This tool is for people who want full control, transparency, and no recurring subscription - or who want to handle the gaps those services miss Acxiom, LexisNexis, ZoomInfo, Clearbit . Using both is the strongest approach: a paid service for the bulk of brokers + this script for the gaps. MIT