Introduction#

So I made a video that kind of blew up about data deletion services, like DeleteMe. Full video can be seen here: https://youtu.be/iX3JT6q3AxA

Today, I got an email from Rob Shavell, the co-founder of DeleteMe. I’ll admit, this scared the living hell out of me, as I personally felt I did a good job at saying they were a fine company, but I don’t know, with the excitement of the video blowing up and then getting this, I was on edge to say the least. I was really happy to see what it actually was though. I asked Rob if I could share this email for full transparency in how he and the company responded. I personally feel that his points are completely valid and fair, and I thought you all should see it. He agreed, which is awesome, thank you Rob!

The full email#

Hi Anthony,

Rob Shavell here—co-founder of Abine / DeleteMe. I watched your recent video on data brokers and data deletion services, and I wanted to thank you. Your breakdown of the different types of data brokers was one of the most accurate and accessible I’ve seen. 

We launched DeleteMe over 15 years ago—a bit before you posted “Kitten Explosion,” and not long after Mark Zuckerberg declared, “Privacy is dead.” We’ve spent the last decade and a half trying to prove otherwise, long before privacy was considered a mainstream concern.

A few thoughts in response to your video:

First off, thank you for clearly stating that DeleteMe isn’t a scam—we genuinely appreciate the fair treatment. That said, we do feel the overall takeaway—especially when you look through the comments—leaves viewers with the impression that we’re not delivering meaningful value. And we think that impression comes from the way the dangers of publicly exposed personal information were somewhat glossed over.

People search sites aren’t just creepy—they’re one of the easiest and most dangerous sources of harm. Unlike inferred data or anonymized marketing profiles, this data is directly tied to real names, addresses, phone numbers, relatives, and even photos. And anyone with a credit card can look it up. That’s what makes it such a common vector for doxxing, stalking, harassment, identity theft, and fraud. It’s low-barrier, high-risk—and exactly the kind of threat we help mitigate every day.

We protect all kinds of people: judges, election workers, medical providers, podcast hosts—and yes, a lot of creators. In fact, many creators we reach out to end up telling us they already use DeleteMe. That alone says a lot about the real-world need and the specific risk that comes with having a public-facing life online.

We don’t promise to solve all privacy problems. But removing this kind of exposed PII from the public web is one of the most direct, concrete steps people can take to reduce their attack surface. That’s the core of the value we provide.

We also understand that the root problem is the lack of comprehensive privacy regulation in the U.S.—and we’ve been fighting to change that:

  • We were part of the W3C Do Not Track standards group

  • We made recommendations that became part of the original CCPA

  • We lobbied for the Delete Act in California and fought back against efforts funded by Experian and other data brokers to weaken it

  • We regularly donate to the EFF and other organizations pushing for meaningful privacy rights

You also mentioned having trouble accessing our privacy policy, which I want to clarify. We use a privacy infrastructure provider called Transcend to manage consent, user data requests, and access controls. Unfortunately, Firefox currently categorizes Transcend as an analytics tool rather than a consent manager, which can cause access issues or blocking behavior. We’re actively working with both Firefox and Transcend to ensure it’s properly flagged and recognized as a consent tool going forward.

If you’re ever curious to explore our service directly—or want to take it for a spin firsthand—I’d be more than happy to set that up for you. And / or, we could just chat :)

Thanks again for the thoughtful video. We genuinely appreciate your work and welcome your feedback.

Best,
Rob Shavell Co-Founder, DeleteMe / Abine