FamilyTreeNow derives its records from publicly available sources. The reason the site/app is making news now is because it’s free, unlike many of the other sites that aggregate personal data on people in order to sell it. The list of buyers for those services — Lexis Nexis is a longstanding data aggregator — ranges from marketers and private investigators to employers, law firms and spouses.
You can opt out of having your record accessible on FamilyTreeNow by clicking the link above and following the 3 steps — search for yourself, confirm record identity, and pull the opt-out trigger. The site lists a Step 4, which consists of waiting 48 hours for the record to wipe clean, but a user doesn’t need to take any action for Step 4. This process may not remove your name from the database, but the associated information will no longer be accessible. The public records from which FamilyTreeNow and sites like it mine your personal information remain unchanged by opting out at individual aggregators like FamilyTreeNow. Protection of private information, especially against those who can afford to pay the non-free services, remains a challenge.
