More than 70% of consumers are interested in having their personal data removed from people-search websites, according to new survey*

Discover announced the launch of Online Privacy Protection, a new, free benefit for customers that helps remove their personal information from 10 popular websites that collect and sell user information. This benefit is for both Credit Card and Bank customers and only available in the Discover mobile app.

Online Privacy Protection regularly scans select popular people-search websites and helps remove customers’ personal information, such as their names, addresses, ages and phone numbers, from those sites. People-search websites compile, publish, and sell consumers’ personal information and make it easily accessible for anyone to purchase on public-facing websites.

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“Online Privacy Protection is a convenient and free benefit that helps give our customers peace of mind and more control of their personal information online.”

The free benefit will be rolled out in stages in the coming weeks to customers who enable it in their Discover mobile app. Once customers opt in, Online Privacy Protection automatically scans the following people-search sites about every 90 days: BeenVerified.com, Intellius.com, Yellowpages.com, Addresses.com, PeopleLooker.com, AnyWho.com, InstantPeopleFinder.com, PeopleSmart.com, USsearch.com and ZabaSearch.com.

“Consumers today worry about their personal data ending up in the wrong hands. The process to get this information taken down from people-search websites can be time-consuming, confusing and costly, and consumers are often left to fend for themselves,” said Shannon Kors, vice president of product and marketing at Discover. “Online Privacy Protection is a convenient and free benefit that helps give our customers peace of mind and more control of their personal information online.”

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Discover research shows that 83% of consumers expressed concern over the misuse of their personal information and 31% indicated they have no control or not much control over that data.

By helping remove personal information from 10 people-search websites, Discover could reduce the number of unwanted phone calls and emails consumers receive and could help safeguard them against identity theft.

The same research found that 74% of adults are familiar with people-search websites but 64% are not familiar with existing technology that could help remove their information from these sites. In the survey, 72% of consumers indicated they are interested in the removal of their information from these popular data-collecting websites.

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