You can find many different things on the internet. But one of the most interesting things is people search websites.

If you didn’t know about these, there are hundreds of websites on the internet that people use to look at you and other people’s information. Don’t believe me? Here are a few: Truthfinder, Spokeo, TruePeopleSearch, PeekYou, PeopleFinders, etc.

I tried some of these websites and was surprised to find my father there, along with his phone number, address, age, and more. But how do these websites work? According to experian.com: “People search websites are a type of data broker, a general term for companies that specialize in collecting, storing and selling information. People search sites may collect data from local, state, and federal public records, along with information that’s posted online in public forums and on social media.”

So these websites aren’t some kind of dark web, illegal websites, they actually use public information legally. Also, these websites are able to purchase more information from private companies that gather information/data about people. When I showed my dad what I found, he said: “What the heck.”

The information that these websites can get is scary. For example, experian.com states that these websites can collect names, previous aliases, age, gender, current and previous roommates, phone numbers, emails, divorce records, family members, etc.

While websites like these may be used by creeps, they can also be good for people trying to make sure of their safety when meeting up with people, such as meeting with an online friend.

But if you are still worried about these websites, there are ways to remove your information from them. Such as opting out. Many of these websites have opt-out forms or removal requests that you can send to the company for them to remove your information.

You really shouldn’t be worried about these websites because the chance of someone finding you on there is pretty small. For example, I tried searching myself up but I couldn’t even find it because there were so many other Ryan Nords in the world that showed up instead. Sometimes the websites show people from the 1800s.

If you feel like this isn’t enough, you can even pay experian.com to automatically submit these forms, or more drastically, you could find websites like Privacy Bee that will wipe you off the face of the internet, including these websites.

In essence, you should always be aware of these websites, but you shouldn’t be worried about them because the chance of someone even stalking you is pretty small.