Look, I’m going to say differently than the highest commenter on this post because I think they have value in a world that values my personal data. I used incogni and so far they just seem to be knocking my data out. Last year when I was where you were, unsure if i should do this, I was turned down for a role at a company due to a (flawed) background check (I was told this was the last step remaining in the process, I was denied the role).

So, I started looking at my own personal data (and found others with same name) and found absurdly wrong info. I have a semi common last name and a very common (for my age) first, so imagine my first hit comes up with criminal records for another stupidmanager of my about age, but possibly linked to some other family members and paying more I found my social associated as “potential”. I already knew other-stupidmanager in my city and others with my name had bad debts, but damn… that criminal record was out of the park felony (other-stupidmanager is still in prison for this). And now that I’m dating women who might have kids… man what a nightmare that could have been.

Now, nearly 9 months later, my name (first and last) might show up on the first few pages of google and it’s my professional profile or articles I’ve been quoted in. My full name, doesn’t appear at all. Also notable decrease in credit card offers, I-BUYhousing postcards and even those unsolicited advert mailers.

This is not an advert for incogni, this is a justification on why I value my private information and didn’t want to spend hundreds trying to fill out every type of form to get my name clear. I picked that company because it came recommended by another person here.