• People-search sites are a loophole in the public records system and difficult to deal with.
• Some firms promise to help delete personal data but Consumer Reports' study shows they fall short.
• The study had 32 volunteers and used 7 services on 13 people-search sites over 4 months in California and New York.
• Only 35% of 332 identifying information profiles were removed within 4 months using all services.
• EasyOptOuts performed second best at 65% removal rate.
• Manual opt-outs were the most effective at 70% removal within 1 week.
• There are close ties between people-search sites and the removal services.
• OneRep was dropped by Mozilla due to ties to the people-search industry.
• CR advocates for federal and state laws like California's Delete Act.
• CheckPeople, PublicDataUSA, and Intelius are the least responsive, while PeopleFinders, ClustrMaps, and ThatsThem have some compliance.