Intelius' CEO stated that the Classmates purchase provided a "unique set of data about people, including their maiden name, school, picture." Now it's been acquired by Intelius, a major data broker specializing in background checks and people search websites. For example, 20 years ago, was a social network and one of the most visited sites on the internet. Internet companies are continually consolidating, which means user data is commonly transferred from one company to another. Frustratingly, it's not uncommon for data to be provided by a user for one reason, but used by a company for another. The woman had forgotten about the account and was surprised to learn that her photos had been uploaded into a massive facial recognition database without her permission. For example, The New York Times recently published an article profiling a mother who had uploaded pictures of her children to Flickr, a photo sharing website that has seen its popularity decline steeply since its heyday. It's easy to forget about old online accounts you haven't accessed in years or even decades. Be sure to use a throwaway email address for any communications with these companies.Ģ. Some data broker sites, such as WhitePages, will require you to sign up for an account to request deletion.
Keep track of which sites you've emailed and follow-up with a more direct email if necessary. Many people-search websites offer an opt-out page while others require sending an email request. These sites commonly publish your name, current and former addresses, data of birth, family members, phone numbers, email address, and numerous other private data points. Welcome to the world of invasive people-search data broker websites that exist simply to traffic in personal information. As you scroll through the search results, you'll probably notice your personal information on websites such as Mylife, Pipl, Spokeo, and Whitepages. Depending on the prevalence of your name, you might need to include a middle initial or city where you've lived. Opt out of data brokers and people-search sitesįirst things first, search your name online. While you will need to check out the software's website for instructions for most firewall providers, if you're using McAfee Internet Security Suite from AOL, you can find out more through our help page.1. While you should keep the firewall active most of the time, temporality turning it off can be helpful when trying to determine what is causing issues with your computer.
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While you'll need to contact your software vendor for specifics instructions for your software, most browsers will allow you a temporary bypass by holding down the Shift key as you click web site links.ĭisable firewall using McAfee Internet Security SuiteĪ firewall prevents hackers from accessing your computer online, which prohibits them from stealing your sensitive info or infecting your computer. You may need to temporarily disable your pop-up blocking software or add AOL to your allowlist. Doing this will wipe out all the little unwanted bits of info that have been stored in your browser, resetting it and making it overall run better. It is especially important to check your Mail settings for this if your account has been recently compromised, as hackers will often change your name to make it harder for you to use your account normally even after it's secured.Ĭlear your browser's cache to reset your browser back to its clear state. If you have any combination of "AOL" in your display name, the message won't go through.
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If you don't have an updated or supported browser installed on your computer, you'll need to update your existing browser or download a new one. If you're using an older or outdated browser, such as Internet Explorer, you may need to access AOL Mail from a different browser. This will help to clear the internal memory of your computer (RAM) and will often resolve many issues. If you haven't shut down your computer in a while, we recommend that you begin troubleshooting by restarting your computer. Be aware that some of these steps will cause you to lose your place on this help page, so you may want to print these instructions or save this page in your bookmarks. If you're having problems sending mail, there are a few troubleshooting steps you can take to fix the problem.