Articles on: Opt Outs & Removals

What is a Sponsored Link profile?

In general, People Search Sites provide profiles on individuals after a search is initiated. In some cases, initiating a search for an individual on a People Search Site displays the profiles that the People Search Site has gathered from various personal data sources, and displays additional profiles containing information from other companies. These additional profiles are sponsored by other companies advertising that they, too, can reveal personal details about individuals on their websites using their own data sources.

Multiple profiles displayed after a search can create a bit of confusion when opting out of a People Search Site like Areacode-Lookup.com and Peekyou.com. After Areacode-Lookup.com and Peekyou.com remove their profile of you from their site, the sponsored link profiles may still appear. Searches on the site will continue to show personal information not from the site itself, from the sponsored links.

Below are two examples of sponsored link profiles found on Areacode-Lookup.com and Peekyou.com. Take note of the sponsored link profile report by Intelius on the Areacode-Lookup.com search results and the BeenVerified sponsored links beneath the Peekyou.com profiles.

AreaCode-Lookup Sponsored Link

BeenVerified Sponsored Link

Sponsored link profiles are paid advertisements. Data broker websites often have affiliate relationships or partnerships with other data broker companies.

Curiosity often gets the best of us - especially when private personal information is so readily displayed. If Areacode-Lookup.com displays certain types of personal information, the sponsored link profiles may show a little bit more, or a different type of personal information. Why wouldn’t we want to view that, too?

There are risks attached to clicking on sponsored link profiles just to look at your own information. Once clicked, online tracking mechanisms can be triggered and your online activities might be monitored. This type of tracking can result in targeted advertising, unwanted emails, or unsolicited phone calls. Occasionally, clicking on the buttons within the profiles in the example image can misdirect you to a site that is not visibly identified.

Update your browser and device security settings to help prevent targeted advertising and tracking.

Optery provides opt out and removal services for People Search Sites like Areacode-Lookup.com and Peekyou.com. Optery can confirm profile removal from People Search Sites like Areacode-Lookup.com and Peekyou.com when an opt out request is successful, but cannot remove the sponsored link profiles that still remain.

Updated on: 19/09/2024

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