Questions and contactBefore you write, the answer may already be here.

These are the questions readers ask us most, answered in one place. If yours is not here, the contact form sits at the bottom of this page.

About The Data Trail

Who writes The Data Trail?

Five researchers, each with a beat. Maren Holt covers data brokers, people-search sites and opt-outs. Tomás Arriaga writes about company research and Latin America. Priya Raman handles online safety: passwords, scams and what to do after a breach. Wendell Ostrowski explains public records from the counter side, having worked as a deputy county clerk and a paralegal. Hannah Leclerc covers privacy law, from the Fair Credit Reporting Act to California's rules and Argentina's data protection law. There is more about each of us on the About page.

What do you cover?

Where personal information comes from, how it ends up in data broker files and people-search listings, and how to get your own details taken down. We also write about public records (what they contain in general and who can see them), safe and legal ways to check out a business before you pay it, account security, scams, and the laws behind all of it. Our guides are written for readers in the United States first, with a corner for Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and the rest of Latin America.

Do you look people up?

No. We do not search for people, we do not hold a database of people, and we will not find an address, a phone number or a relative for anyone, even when the request sounds harmless. The reason is simple. The same search that reconnects two old classmates also helps someone track down a person who moved to get away from them, and we have no way to tell those requests apart from an email. Every guide on this site is about your own information, or about what public records contain in general. If you write to us asking for details about another person, we will not answer that part of the message.

Can you remove my information from people-search sites for me?

We cannot, and we do not run a removal service. What we can do is show you how to do it yourself, which costs nothing but some time. Start with our guide to removing your information from people-search sites, which takes the large sites one at a time, and keep a record of each request with the opt-out checklist. Most single removals take a few minutes. The harder part is checking back every few months, because a listing can return when a site loads fresh data.

Do the checks on this site send my answers anywhere?

No. The checks (the password strength meter, the opt-out checklist, the request letter builder and the others) run entirely in your browser. Nothing you type into them is sent to us or to anyone else. A few of them remember your progress in your browser's local storage so you can pick up where you left off. That copy stays on your device, and clearing this site's data in your browser removes it. Our privacy policy has the details.

How we work

How do you choose your sources?

We go to the source whenever there is one: the statute itself, the agency that enforces it, the court or registry portal, the broker's own opt-out page. The Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, state attorneys general and California's privacy agency all publish plain guidance, and we lean on it. We name our sources in the text so you can check them yourself. We do not invent statistics, and when a number is uncertain we leave it out rather than guess. Opt-out forms and agency pages change often, so we describe them as they were at the time of writing and tell you what to look for if a form has moved.

Is this legal advice?

No. We explain what laws say and how offices usually work, in general terms. Your situation may turn on details we cannot see, such as your state, the dates involved or the exact wording of a document. When a guide reaches a point where a lawyer, a legal aid office or the agency itself should look at your case, we say so in that guide.

What happens when you get something wrong?

We fix it. Tell us what is wrong and, if you can, where you found the correct information. Once we confirm the error, we correct the page and change the "updated" date at the top so returning readers can see it changed. If a correction changes the advice itself (a form that now asks for different details, a deadline that moved), we rewrite the affected steps instead of adding a note at the bottom.

Do you earn money from your links?

Some links on the site are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We also link to some partner services through CJ (Commission Junction), and we may earn a commission when a reader signs up through one of those links. Clicking a link does not change what you pay. A commission never decides what we write: when a free method does the job, and for most opt-outs it does, we lead with the free method.

Can I suggest a topic?

Yes. Reader questions make good starting points for a guide: a listing that keeps coming back, a letter that might be a scam, a company that wants to be paid by gift card. Tell us what happened in general terms and what you wish you had known at the time. We read every message, though we cannot promise to write about every idea.

Writing to us

What should I not send you?

Please leave out anything that could be used to impersonate you or anyone else:

• Social Security numbers, Argentine DNI or CUIT numbers (national ID and tax numbers), passport or driver's license numbers
• passwords, PINs, recovery codes or one-time sign-in codes
• bank, card or account numbers
• copies of ID documents, or screenshots that show any of the above

We never need these to answer a question. If you want help with a listing about you, describe it ("my old address shows up with my middle initial and a former employer") rather than pasting the listing itself. If you send something sensitive by mistake, tell us and we will delete the message.

What do you do with my message?

We keep your name, email address and message so we can reply, and we use them for nothing else. We do not add you to a mailing list, and we never sell or share what you send. You can ask for a copy of what we hold about you, and you can ask us to delete your message at any time. Readers in the European Union and the United Kingdom have these rights under the GDPR, and California residents have them under the California Consumer Privacy Act. We honor the same requests from everyone, wherever they live. To use them, send a request through the form below and say what you would like us to do.

How do I reach you?

Use the form below. It is the only way to reach us: we do not publish a postal address, a phone number or an email address, which keeps every message in one place and keeps spam down. Give us an email address you actually check, a short description of what you need and as much detail as the question calls for. We read questions about our guides, corrections, topic ideas and requests about your own data, and we reply by email to the address you give.