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DeleteMe is 30 percent off for Black Friday — and it's the most effective anti-spam tool I've ever used

We like our hardware here at Engadget, from high-end gaming headsets to powerful heaters to the fabric shaver you never knew you needed. For Black Friday, we've found great deals on all of it. However, since I ascended to the software plane years ago and now swim in the digital aetherium, my favorite product of the year is an app — and not even one you use yourself.
DeleteMe will boost your quality of life, no matter where you are or what you're doing, by sharply reducing the amount of spam you receive on every channel. From now until December 5, it's offering 30 percent off all subscriptions with the coupon code BFCM30OFF25.


Chances are you've seen at least one public-facing "people search" site. You know the ones: they usually have names like 411.info or Find.people, and you can type in a person's name and find all the info the site has been able to scrape on them. If you search your own name, it's hard to avoid immediately running to the kitchen to make yourself a tinfoil hat. The most annoying thing is that these "data broker" sites are perfectly legal to run and use.
However, that's also their Achilles' heel. If they want to operate in the open, brokers legally have to include a way for you to remove yourself from their database. Most of them make it as aggravating and time-consuming as possible, but the option is there.
That's where DeleteMe comes in. All you have to do is sign up and enter all the data you want removed from brokerage sites. DeleteMe handles the rest. It searches for your information on people database sites, automatically sends opt-out requests, bugs the broker if they don't comply quickly enough and gives you a weekly report on how it's doing. You do have to be OK with DeleteMe itself having your data, but I trust them way more than the randos over at violate.privacy.
It's so much faster than handling all the opt-out requests yourself, which — if you've ever tried it — rapidly becomes a full-time job. Since I've been using DeleteMe, I almost never get spam calls or texts anymore, except in short bursts before its crawlers catch my name on another site. And yes, it doesn't work on shady data brokers who don't follow the rules, but it's still a massive reduction of your online footprint.
The only problem is that it's pretty expensive, so I strongly recommend jumping on this Black Friday deal. A few months on DeleteMe should be long enough for you to see if it reduces spam for you — and I'm betting it will.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/deleteme-is-30-percent-off-for-black-friday--and-its-the-most-effective-anti-spam-tool-ive-ever-used-190526056.html?src=rss