About The Data Trail
The Data Trail explains where personal information comes from, where it travels, and how to pull your own details back out of the places they should not be. We write for the person who just found their home address on a site they had never heard of, the person holding a breach letter at the kitchen table, and the person who wants to check out a company before sending it money.
Who we are
We are five researchers, and each of us writes about the part of this subject we know from work.
- Maren worked in compliance at a consumer lender. She covers data brokers, people-search sites and opt-outs, and she likes a numbered list of steps with a realistic timeline next to each one.
- Tomás researched companies for trade publications in Buenos Aires and Santiago. He writes about company research and Latin America, from Argentina's tax registry to the business registries of Chile and Mexico, and he will always tell you what an acronym stands for.
- Priya worked as an account-security engineer. She covers passwords, passkeys, two-step sign-in, phishing, scam calls and the clean-up after a data breach.
- Wendell was a deputy county clerk and later a paralegal. He explains court records, property records, voter files and records requests from the counter side.
- Hannah is a privacy policy analyst. She covers the laws themselves: the Fair Credit Reporting Act, California's privacy rules and its Delete Act, other state laws, the GDPR and Argentina's data protection law.
What we cover
Our guides fall into a handful of subjects. How data brokers and people-search sites build their listings, and how to remove yours. What public records contain in general and who is allowed to see them. How to research a business before you trust it, in the United States and in Latin America. Account security and scams. And the laws that set the rules for all of the above.
Alongside the reading, a set of small checks lets you test a password, make a passphrase, keep a log of your opt-out requests or draft a letter asking a company for a copy of your data. They run entirely in your browser and send nothing to us. If you have just found yourself on a listing, our guide to removing your information from people-search sites is the place to start.
What we never do
A few lines we do not cross, whatever the request:
- We never look people up. There is no search box for people here, and we will not find anyone's address, phone number or relatives for you.
- We never sell data. We have no reader database to sell, and we do not buy data about our readers either.
- We never publish records. The listings and filings in our examples are made up ("Jane Example, 123 Sample St") so you can recognize your own and get them removed.
- We do not run a removal service. We show you how to do it yourself, step by step.
The first rule matters most. A search that helps one person find an old friend can help another person find someone who moved to get away from them. A site that teaches people how to protect their information has no business handing that information out.
How we choose sources and fix mistakes
We work from primary sources: statutes, the agencies that enforce them, court and registry portals, and the brokers' own opt-out pages. We name those sources in the text so you can check them. When a fact is uncertain, we leave it out instead of dressing it up as a number. Opt-out forms and agency pages change without notice, so our guides describe them at the time of writing and show the date each page was last updated.
When we get something wrong, we want to hear about it. Send the correction through the contact form. Once we confirm it, we fix the page and change its date.
Nothing on the site is legal advice. When a situation needs a lawyer, a legal aid office or the agency itself, the guide says so at the point where it matters.
How the site is funded
The Data Trail is paid for by affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Links to partner services, which we join through CJ (Commission Junction), may also earn us a commission when a reader signs up. Clicking one of these links does not change what you pay.
A commission never decides what we recommend. If a free method works, and for most opt-outs it does, we lead with it. We do not run advertising trackers or analytics, there are no reader accounts, and we do not sell data, to partners or to anyone else. Our privacy policy sets out exactly what the site collects, which is very little.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections and topic ideas are welcome through the form on our questions and contact page. We do not publish a postal address, a phone number or an email address, so the form is the one way to reach us, and every message is read by one of the five of us. Please do not send ID numbers, passwords or copies of documents. We never need them to answer you.