How to remove public records: an 8-step guide

There’s no denying that public records have their benefits, promoting transparency and offering a certain level of convenience. But leaving your personal information publicly available for anyone to see comes with risks. 

In this article, we’ll go over how to remove your public records and clean up traces of them online.

Mariam Volobueva

Updated on: September 24, 2024

In short, how can you remove public records?

1. Remove information through your county clerk’s office.
2. Remove your court records.
3. Remove information from your DMV.
4. Remove information from people search sites.
5. Remove information from third-party sites (and related search engine results).
6. Remove remaining information from Google search results.
7. Remove information from data brokers.
8. Suppress information remaining in search results.

Continue reading to get a thorough breakdown of the steps to accomplish this.

How to remove info from public records

1. Remove information through your county clerk’s office.

Due to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) limitations, you won’t be able to remove all your data from the public record. However, you can request to review all of your public records and inquire which information and documents can be removed, redacted, or amended. 

At the very least, you should be able to remove or at least obscure your Social Security number and phone number. And while you may not be able to remove your address everywhere, you can also replace your home address with a PO box to protect your privacy.

We recommend that you check the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) database. It contains property and financial records that may even display your Social Security number. You should be able to check this online, before your visit, on your state’s official government website. 

2. Remove your court records.

You may also be able to clear your old arrests or convictions, if you meet certain criteria. The exact requirements vary from state to state. Some states even do this automatically, sealing or expunging certain convictions after 7 – 10 years. You may be able to do this sooner if your case has been dismissed, you were found not guilty, or you’ve been the victim of identity theft, for example. 

In general, you’ll need to collect the documents supporting your case and petition the court to have your records sealed or expunged. 

Even if this process is successful, however, these records may still live on elsewhere. Certain types of people search sites collect and publish arrest records and mugshots. Making these websites remove these records is no easy feat, however. We’ll cover people search sites below. 

3. Remove information from your DMV.

We also recommend removing at least parts of your record from the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV). They keep information such as your vehicle registration, driver’s license information, accident reports, and address. 

While you won’t be able to remove all of this information, you may be able to change or hide sensitive information. We recommend, for example, that you protect your real address by using a PO box instead. 

4. Remove information from people search sites.

Removing your personal information from public records at the source isn’t enough, sadly. People search sites scrape the internet, including government websites, for your data, compile it into detailed personal records, and publish it online for just about anyone to buy. Sometimes for as little as $1. 

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of people search sites in the US. They contain information such as court records, marriage and divorce records, voter registration, licenses and permits, property records, and much more. All of this, of course, combined with your name, email, phone number, and home address. An uncomfortable, if not dangerous, combination. 

You can easily find people search sites that publish your data by doing a quick online search. Just look for your name, email, phone number, or address using any search engine and you’ll likely find several people search sites displaying parts of your public records right in the search results. Then it’s a matter of visiting each website and following the opt-out process. 

We’ve created opt-out guides for some of the biggest people search sites in the US. Even if you couldn’t find many results just by searching your name, we recommend checking these sites individually for your data. 

Fair warning, though, many people search sites will publish your information again, even after you successfully opt out, if they find your information again. That’s why it’s so important to be thorough with data removal and check these sites regularly to keep them away from your information. 

Incogni does all this automatically. We find and remove your information from people search sites (and other types of data brokers) and keep it from reappearing by sending recurring removal requests, as needed. 

5. Remove information from third-party sites (and related search engine results).

Looking up your name, email, phone number, or address when searching for people search sites, it’s possible you found parts of your public record on other sites too. This may include news outlets, marketing databases, or charities you took part in. 

No matter where you find it, you should visit each website and look for an opt-out page. If the site doesn’t have one, use their contact form, or identify the website owner and reach out to them directly. 

6. Remove remaining information from Google search results.

If you’ve followed our previous steps, there shouldn’t be too much of your personal information left on Google search results. However, it’s possible there’ll be some remnants. 

Following the previous steps, do a follow-up Google search on yourself using the results about you tool. If anything remains that you couldn’t get rid of by submitting opt-out requests or contacting the website owners, fill out Google’s data removal request form to have the information de-indexed. You can do the same for images through the image removal form. 

If you did manage to remove information from people search sites or other websites but it still shows up in Google search results, use their refresh outdated content tool.

For more detailed instructions on how to remove your information from Google, check out our guide.

7. Remove information from data brokers.

While you may have already removed your information from people search sites, which publish that data publicly, other data brokers will still hold parts of your public record. Most data brokers (aside from PSS), keep their databases private and sell them B2B (business-to-business) or B2G (business-to-government) to marketers, insurance companies, government entities, people search sites, other data brokers, and more. Essentially, as long as data brokers have your personal information, it’ll keep circulating the web and popping up where you don’t want it. 

Unfortunately, finding which data brokers have your information is no walk in the park. Their databases are private, and can cost a pretty penny to access. While, depending on where you live, you may have the right to view these records, you’ll have to submit a formal request. Which takes time. 

Instead, we recommend you research which data brokers are likely to have your information and send opt-out requests directly to them. If they have your data, they’ll remove it, if not, you haven’t spent more time than it would have taken to check first. 

Unfortunately, if any scrap of your information remains somewhere, data brokers will find it. And, like people search sites, most data brokers will likely start selling it again after some time, making it important to repeat the data removal process several times a year.  

8. Suppress information remaining in search results.

Once you’ve removed everything you can, it’s still possible that parts of your public record may still show up online. If you can’t remove it, you can try to bury it instead.

Suppressing information about you online means creating content that will show up when searching your name. This will push the information you want to hide further down in the search results. Research shows that 93.4% of people don’t look past the first page of search results. So while it’s no guarantee, suppression should do a decent job of keeping your information buried. 

What are public records?

Public records are non-confidential information kept by government-controlled agencies and institutions. Public records are “public” because anyone can access the information in them. Many public records are published online and may end up on non-government websites as well. 

Public records may include information such as:

• Birth certificates
• Death certificates
• Marriage certificates
• Driver’s license information
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings
• Criminal records
• Court records
• Voter registration information
• Property ownership
• Tax information
• Occupational licenses.

What kinds of public records are there?

There are different types of public records, depending on the level of government that maintains them. Public records can exist at the national, state, and local (county or city) levels.

National-level public records include information kept in the National Archives, federal court records, and federal agency documents. These records often encompass vital historical data, immigration records, and federal court case filings.

State and county-level public records include a wide range of information, such as court documents, property records, marriage licenses, and birth and death certificates. These records are typically maintained by individual state departments or county offices, such as the Department of Public Health, State Archives, or County Clerk’s Office.

Where public records can be found:

• The National Archives maintains federal records, including census data, military records, and historical documents.
• Federal courts (PACER) provide access to federal case files, including bankruptcy, civil, and criminal cases.
• State archives hold important documents relating to state history, legislation, and official correspondence.
• County Clerk’s offices maintain records of property transactions, marriage licenses, and other legal documents.
• Vital records offices handle birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates at the state or county level.
• The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) keeps driving records, vehicle registrations, and other related information.
• Local law enforcement agencies provide access to arrest records, crime reports, and sometimes mugshots.

Why you should remove public records

Many internet users, especially of the younger variety, adopt the attitude that they have nothing to hide, which may very well be the case. However, having almost any of your personal information publicly available comes with certain risks. 

Even anonymized, demographical data can be traced back to you with unnerving ease. According to this study, 99.98% of Americans could be identified with as few as 15 anonymized data points. 

Information from your public records can also spread online with the help of data brokers and people search sites. While many data brokers deal mainly with legitimate businesses and organizations (except for when they knowingly sell data to scammers), identity thieves can easily access public records on people search sites. 

Related: Identity Theft Facts & Statistics

Data brokers, including people search sites, collect publicly accessible personal information, including from commercial sources and your own social media posts. Once compiled into a detailed personal profile, cybercriminals have all the ammunition they need to target unsuspecting individuals. 

They can also use personally identifiable information (PII) to find your public records and gain access to more sensitive information. So even seemingly innocuous information, such as a phone number, can lead to serious consequences. 

These can include:

• Identity theft
• Blackmail
• Extortion
• Stalking
• Doxxing
• Swatting
• Predatory advertising
• Scams.

Be sure to also check out our step-by-step guide on how to remove your personal information from the internet to optimize your online privacy. 

How to minimize the exposure of your public records

Even if you followed all our steps, not all public records can be removed. But you can take steps to protect your privacy in those records. 

• Redact sensitive information such as your Social Security number and home address.
• Use a PO Box or alternative address instead of your home address, especially when registering businesses or applying for permits.
• Mask your phone number or use a burner when providing a phone number for public forms.
• Opt for confidential documents in jurisdictions that allow confidential treatment for sensitive documents, such as certain court records or business filings, to minimize exposure of personal details.
• Limit your sharing of personal information on forms, especially when it’s not legally required. Avoid including sensitive details like your full birth date if it’s not necessary.
• Set up a trust or LLC for property ownership instead of listing your name directly on property records to help keep your personal information private.
• Use privacy services that use their information instead of yours when filing certain public documents, such as business filings.
• Monitor public records regularly to help catch any unexpected exposure and take steps to mitigate it.

Know your rights

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is part of a federal law mandating the total or partial disclosure of all information or documents controlled by the US government, upon request. However, there are exemptions to the FOIA for protected data, such as health information. 

Even though the FOIA is a federal law, each state has individual restrictions regarding what information can be shared. You can find detailed information about specific legislature through your state’s official government site. 

Unfortunately, most exemptions to the FOIA protect national interests. This means you won’t necessarily be able to remove the entirety of your public record at the source—the government. That doesn’t mean it’s a futile pursuit, though. 

Finding official public records isn’t easy unless you know exactly what you’re looking for. Even if you do, accessing them is usually associated with some costs. The internet does make it easier, however. Data brokers like people search sites scrape the internet for public records to compile easy-to-find, easy-to-use profiles, making your public record open for nearly anyone with basic internet access. 

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