My first useful Muse task

I asked Muse to get my info off people-search sites

A pile of removal forms, a little inbox duty, and a pretty practical use for AI.

By AllanAbout 3 min read

My original chat with Muse. I ask: Scrub my info from data broker sites that have my email and phone number. Do you know what those are? Muse asks for my details and describes the next steps. My contact details are obscured. — The actual chat that started this, with my contact details hidden.

The task: Request removal of my personal info
Muse's part: Find listings and work through forms
My part: Verification steps and follow-up

The first really useful thing I used Muse for was trying to get my phone number and email off data broker sites.

I was getting hammered with spam calls and texts, which got me thinking about how much of my personal information was floating around online.

People-search sites are part of that problem. They collect information about people and package it into searchable reports. Things like your address, age, and family connections can end up in there. The FTC has a good explanation of how these sites work.

I had just signed up for Muse, and this was the first useful task I came across.

Muse asked for the email and phone number I wanted removed, then started working through the sites.

Over a couple of days, it worked through a list of more than 30. Spokeo, BeenVerified, Whitepages, TruePeopleSearch, Pipl, and a bunch more. The work involved looking for my information, finding the removal forms, filling them out, and submitting requests where it could.

All those little steps add up when you're doing them site by site. Having help with that was the useful part.

I still had a job, though: inbox duty.

A lot of the sites needed me to click an email verification link before the request could move forward. Some threw up CAPTCHA puzzles, those little “prove you're human” checks. One wanted a verification phone call.

The screenshots from CheckPeople and Pipl give you a pretty good idea of the process. An email form on one. A deletion request with a picture puzzle on the other. Very glamorous stuff.

What that actually looked like

Two stops along the way · Tap to enlarge

CheckPeople's Suppression Center asking for an email address, with the entered address obscured. — **01 / CheckPeople**Entering an email address to start the suppression process.

Pipl's deletion request form with private details obscured and a picture CAPTCHA visible. — **02 / Pipl**A deletion request form, complete with a CAPTCHA.

Some requests went through. Some needed more steps. A couple of sites didn't turn up a record of me, which was nice. A few still needed me to finish things by hand.

Submitting a request also doesn't mean the information is already gone. I still need to check what actually disappeared. And even after a removal, information can show up again, which is why the FTC recommends checking back periodically.

So there's follow-up work. But Muse helped me get through a pile of repetitive forms, and that's a pretty practical use for AI.

That's what I want to share here at Quick AI Bytes: things I actually use AI for, how they go, and the parts that still need a person.

First experiment: useful, with a few loose ends.

Try it yourself

Steal this prompt

Copy this, swap in your own info where the brackets are, and paste it into an AI assistant that can actually browse the web and fill out forms. Only use an assistant you trust with this info. This stuff is sensitive, so do not paste your real details anywhere public.

Scrub my info off data broker sites

Help me remove my personal information from data broker and people search sites.

Here is the info I want scrubbed:
Name: [your full name, plus any common versions, like a middle initial]
Email: [your email]
Phone: [your phone number]
Current address: [street, city, state, ZIP]
Past city or state, if any: [optional, brokers love old addresses]

Work through these sites first, then add any big ones you find that I missed: Spokeo, BeenVerified, PeopleFinders, Whitepages, TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch, USPhoneBook, ThatsThem, PeopleConnect (it covers TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, Intelius, US Search, and ZabaSearch), Pipl, PeopleSmart, CheckPeople, FamilyTreeNow, USA People Search, Advanced Background Checks, SearchPeopleFree, ZoomInfo, Acxiom, LexisNexis, Epsilon, and Oracle.

For every site, do this:
1. Search for me three ways, by name, by phone number, and by email.
2. Find my actual listing, and make sure it is really me before you touch it. Same name is not enough. Match the city, the age range, the phone, or the address, and leave everyone else's records alone.
3. Use only the site's official opt out, privacy, suppression, or do not sell my info page. If there is no listing, say so and move on.

Rules while you work:
- Never pay anything. Every legit opt out is free, so if a site asks for money, stop and flag it.
- Never create an account for me, and never sign me up for anything.
- Never give out my Social Security number, and never upload, fax, or mail a copy of my ID. If a site demands that, stop, flag it, and let me decide myself.
- Only use my date of birth if one specific form truly requires it, and tell me before you use it. Here it is in case: [your date of birth]
- If you hit a CAPTCHA, a verification phone call, or anything that needs a human, pause and tell me exactly what you need from me.

Most of these sites email a verification link before they finish. When that happens, stop and tell me which site sent it, what the email will look like, and what I need to click. Do not mark that site done until I confirm I clicked it.

Keep a running list the whole time with the site name, the date, my listing URL, what you submitted, the status, any confirmation number or message, how long they said processing takes, and what is still waiting on me.

At the end, give me a summary in four buckets: submitted and confirmed, submitted and still processing, no record found, and blocked or needs me to do it by hand. Then remind me to run this again in 90 days, because brokers buy fresh data and listings creep back.

The box scrolls. Copy the whole prompt, then replace the brackets with your own details in your private chat.

I asked Muse to get my info off people-search sites

What that actually looked like

Steal this prompt

More useful things.Fewer things to figure out alone.

More useful things.
Fewer things to figure out alone.