What DROP doesn’t cover
DROP sends your request only to businesses registered as data brokers in California. It is powerful, but it has limits.
1. Businesses that aren’t registered
A site that isn’t on the registry won’t receive your DROP request — whether it’s exempt from the definition, operates under a different corporate name, or simply hasn’t registered. We checked 30 well-known people-search brands against the current registry (name, DBA, website, privacy-rights URL and comment fields). 3 were not found.
Well-known people-search brands we check against the current California registry. A match means the brand's name or domain appears somewhere in a registry entry (name, DBA, website, privacy-rights URL or comments). 'Not found' means our text search found no match; the operator may still be registered under a different corporate name, so treat 'Not found' as unverified.
| Brand | Domain | In the 2026 registry? |
|---|---|---|
| Spokeo | spokeo.com | Found in registry entry Spokeo, Inc. (name) |
| Whitepages | whitepages.com | Found in registry entry Whitepages, Inc (name) |
| BeenVerified | beenverified.com | Found in registry entry BeenVerified, LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates (name) |
| Intelius | intelius.com | Found in registry entry Intelius, LLC (name) |
| PeopleFinders | peoplefinders.com | Found in registry entry Peoplefinders, LLC (name) |
| TruthFinder | truthfinder.com | Found in registry entry TruthFinder, LLC (name) |
| Instant Checkmate | instantcheckmate.com | Found in registry entry Instant Checkmate LLC (name) |
| MyLife | mylife.com | Found in registry entry Insightbridge LLC (website) |
| Radaris | radaris.com | Not found (unverified — may register under another name) |
| TruePeopleSearch | truepeoplesearch.com | Found in registry entry Free Data Services, LLC (DBA) |
| FastPeopleSearch | fastpeoplesearch.com | Found in registry entry Mississippi Tornado Alley, LLC (DBA) |
| Nuwber | nuwber.com | Found in registry entry Nuwber Inc (name) |
| ThatsThem | thatsthem.com | Found in registry entry Spokeo, Inc. (DBA) |
| ClustrMaps | clustrmaps.com | Not found (unverified — may register under another name) |
| FamilyTreeNow | familytreenow.com | Found in registry entry Family Tree Now, LLC (name) |
| CyberBackgroundChecks | cyberbackgroundchecks.com | Found in registry entry Mississippi Tornado Alley, LLC (DBA) |
| SearchPeopleFree | searchpeoplefree.com | Found in registry entry Mississippi Tornado Alley, LLC (DBA) |
| USPhoneBook | usphonebook.com | Found in registry entry Mississippi Tornado Alley, LLC (DBA) |
| PeekYou | peekyou.com | Not found (unverified — may register under another name) |
| Spy Dialer | spydialer.com | Found in registry entry Spy Labs AdCo, LLC (DBA) |
| PeopleLooker | peoplelooker.com | Found in registry entry BeenVerified, LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates (website) |
| ZabaSearch | zabasearch.com | Found in registry entry Intelius, LLC (website) |
| AnyWho | anywho.com | Found in registry entry Spokeo, Inc. (DBA) |
| PeopleSmart | peoplesmart.com | Found in registry entry BeenVerified, LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates (website) |
| Social Catfish | socialcatfish.com | Found in registry entry Social Catfish, LLC (name) |
| Pipl | pipl.com | Found in registry entry Pipl, Inc. (website) |
| Ownerly | ownerly.com | Found in registry entry BeenVerified, LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates (website) |
| NeighborWho | neighborwho.com | Found in registry entry BeenVerified, LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates (website) |
| CheckPeople | checkpeople.com | Found in registry entry CHECKPEOPLE, LLC (name) |
| Addresses.com | addresses.com | Found in registry entry Intelius, LLC (website) |
Checked automatically against the registry last modified July 29, 2026. For any site not found, use that site’s own opt-out process or the CCPA rights it lists.
2. Data DROP can’t delete
- Information you gave a business directly (first-party data).
- Publicly available information and public records (e.g. vehicle or real estate ownership, voting records).
- Data governed by other laws such as HIPAA, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
- Information needed to respond to a criminal or civil investigation.
Source: How DROP works and Personal information and data brokers (privacy.ca.gov).
3. People outside California
DROP is only for California residents. A few other states run their own data broker registries. They don’t offer a DROP-style one-click deletion tool as far as their official pages show, but they can help you find brokers to contact. We have not yet imported these registries, so we don’t publish counts or cross-matches for them.
| Vermont | Secretary of State Data Broker Registry search; annual registration required between January 1 and 31 (sos.vermont.gov). |
|---|---|
| Texas | Secretary of State Registry of Registered Data Brokers (searchable, with export); background at sos.texas.gov. |
| Oregon | Division of Financial Regulation Data Broker registry; listings, including each broker’s opt-out narrative, via the DCBS public lookup (choose “DFR-Data Broker”). |
4. Paid services as a supplement
Commercial removal services also target sites outside the California registry. Compare what they publish on their own pages: DROP vs Incogni, DeleteMe, Optery and Aura.