Cutting Down Spam Calls

Where the calls come from

Your number gets onto calling lists in lots of ways. You entered it on a form.

The privacy bot

• Its description:
• "You help me reduce my personal information online. Search people search and data broker sites for my name, number and address. List every site where you find me, with a link. For each, find the official opt-out process. Prepare the opt-out requests for me to approve. Track which requests are done and check again later. Never share more information than the opt-out needs, never pay for anything and never submit a request without my approval."

Finding yourself

Start with a search. The bot looks for your name and city on known people search sites, and lists what it finds.

Opting out

Each site has its own opt-out process, if it has one at all. Some have a form.

Keeping track

Opt-outs take time. Some sites take days, some weeks.

Do Not Call lists

Both the US and Canada have national Do Not Call lists. In the US, it's the National Do Not Call Registry.

Your phone carrier

Many phone carriers offer spam call filtering, sometimes free. Phones themselves often have settings to silence unknown callers.

Where else your number is

Beyond data brokers, your number might be in other places you've forgotten. Old accounts.

Scam calls

Some spam calls are scams. Someone pretending to be from your bank, the tax agency, the police or a family member in trouble.

What to expect

Be realistic. After a round of opt-outs and filters, many people find the calls drop.

Walkthrough: a data broker clean-up

• The privacy bot searched known people-search sites for the name and city of one of the Parks.
• It found seven listings and showed each with a link.
• The Parks confirmed six were really them. The seventh was someone else with the same name.
• For each of the six, the bot found the official opt-out page and prepared the request with only the details needed.

What went wrong: opting out the wrong person

On the first run, the bot prepared an opt-out for a listing with the right name and the wrong middle initial. The Parks almost approved it.

Being honest about results

Three months later, the Parks were getting fewer spam calls, but not none. They can't tell how much of the drop came from the opt-outs, the Do Not Call registration or their carrier's filter, since they did all three.

Questions people ask

Should I pay for a removal service? Some companies charge to do data broker opt-outs for you.