What Does Incogni Do?
Incogni is a “Personal Information Removal Service,” meaning it scans the web for databases that are likely to store your sensitive information and contacts the brokers behind them to remove it.
In Incogni’s words from the What is Incogni? support page, “Incogni contacts data brokers on your behalf and requests the deletion of any of your personal data they have.” The service’s algorithm scans over 180 brokers and determines which of them require personal data removal.
What Does Incogni Do?
Incogni is a “Personal Information Removal Service,” meaning it scans the web for databases that are likely to store your sensitive information and contacts the brokers behind them to remove it.
In Incogni’s words from the What is Incogni? support page, “Incogni contacts data brokers on your behalf and requests the deletion of any of your personal data they have.” The service’s algorithm scans over 180 brokers and determines which of them require personal data removal.
How to Use Incogni
Incogni is easy to use. The hardest part of the process is signing up; once you create your account, sit back and let Incogni do its thing.
Dashboard
The Dashboard tab is simple but effective. The top row shows how many requests Incogni has sent to brokers who have your info on record, how many of those requests have yet to be resolved, and the number of brokers who have since removed your personal data from their servers.
As soon as you sign up, these numbers should rise quickly and continue to trickle in over the next week or so (depending on how much of your data is accessible to brokers).
Below the top row is a pie graph with two halves: In progress and Completed. This is a rehash of the same information displayed in the top row, but it gives you a quick visual representation of how much Incogni has already scrubbed.
To the right of the pie chart is a little section of tips. These link to articles that answer FAQs like “What to do if I get an email from a data broker?”
I appreciate the straightforward design of Incogni’s dashboard—any app that deals with your personal information should be transparent and easy to navigate, after all—though I think it might even be too simplistic. I’d like to see a bit more info at face value, such as a short (five items or so) list of the latest completed removals or perhaps a few pointers on keeping my data out of the hands of notorious brokers.
Detailed View
The Detailed View tab is significantly more involved. This is where you can see a breakdown of which databases hold or at one point held your info, how sensitive that information is (to a maximum of 10), and the current status of each Incogni request (either In Progress or Completed).
Under “Broker type” at the top of the page is a small menu that lets you swap between Private and Public databases. Different companies and brokers will populate depending on what they do with your personal information. Public databases display your contact details and background info to their users (a background search website or “people search site“), whereas Private databases are more interested in selling your personal data discreetly for marketing and advertising purposes.
RELATEDHow to Delete Your Personal Information From People-Finder Sites
Just below the Broker type menu is a row of search modifiers—“Category” sorts list items by their industry (“Marketing,” “Financial,” “Recruitment,” and “Risk Mitigation”), “Data sensitivity” is a range of how important the stored data is from one to 10, and “Data Status” sorts the list by request progress.
Moving down to the list itself, you’ll find a small arrow icon next to each broker. Clicking on any company in the list will give you more details about what kind of personal data it has stored (like “Contacts” and “Career”), and any other relevant information Incogni has about it.
It’s worth noting that, a few weeks after signing up with Incogni, 75 data removal requests have been completed, but 72 are still in progress. Incogni mentions some data brokers like to take their time, but they’re obliged to respond within 30 to 45 days of the formal notice. 100% of my data from public databases, many of which have the highest data sensitivity rating due to their deeply personal nature, was removed within a two-week span. Some private databases, on the other hand, still have information like my contacts, career status, and demographic in their system.
I can only hope these private databases hold up their end of the requirement in compliance with the legal notice brought to them by Incogni, but for now, they’ll continue trading and selling my information.
Help
Lastly, the Help tab brings you to Incogni’s support page, where you can find more info on anything you need help with (or find where to contact someone if the answer isn’t on the site).
There are a few tab particularly informative pieces scattered throughout the tabs, offering info on questions like “What are data brokers?,” “Do you remove my data from the dark web?,” and “How do you know if a data broker has my personal data?”
If you just want your personal data out of places it shouldn’t be, you won’t need this tab. But if you’re interested in learning more about the process and exactly what’s happening with your sensitive info, this is where you’ll find the resources.
