I spend a lot of my time building with AI, and like many technical people right now, I've gotten in the habit of asking whether I could build my own solution for something instead of paying for somebody else's. Removing my family's personal information from data brokers seemed like a perfect candidate: tedious, repetitive, browser-based, and sold as a subscription that costs at least as much as my personal Claude account.
I gave the job to Claude, which has its own browser and can fill in web forms, planning to do it for my household and turning what we learned into a guide anyone could follow, like my parents and in-laws. What followed was so much friction that I gave up.
- Companies require registering and creating accounts, always with MFA
- Scanning and submitting sensitive data: SSNs, IDs, utility bills, and copies of my kids' Social Security cards and birth certificates
- Physically printing and mailing forms and letters to make opt-outs permanent (Is your old printer's ink cartridge dried out, too?)
- Identity quizzes that were causing me to have to google information about what was supposed to be personal to me
- Sites that just didn't work
- All of it multiplied by each adult, with different processes for kids
- All of it multiplied by a large number of sites, and, apparently, hundreds of brokers that re-list you within months, which makes all the above feel pointless
All of this to keep companies from selling data about me -- something I never agreed to in the first place. Are they worried that someone pretending to be me will permanently opt me out of having my data sold? What a tragedy.
Why AI couldn't close the gap
I had Claude Cowork navigate the sites, fill in everything that wasn't sensitive, catch the traps, and draft the letters, but I'm not comfortable giving an LLM all of my family's personal information and authorizing it to create accounts and manage passwords on our behalf. Maybe someday, with a local model. Even then, I'd still be handling the verification codes texted to my phone, click-through email confirmation links, taking the quizzes, and printing and mailing envelopes. I stopped after a couple of hours. I don't have that much free time, and the effort is both mind-numbing and frustrating.
What should happen instead
This is a job for consumer protection, not for individuals navigating a maze, and not for a subscription industry that exists because the maze does. No offense to DeleteMe or its competitors, but their existence is a sign of failure.
Until then, I will be signing up for one of these services... and I am loath to subscribe to anything.
I put a few steps that may be worth your time plus some additional resources in an artifact here: Unlist Your Household
