Incogni is a company that removes personal data. It serves as a proxy for sending removal requests to different data brokers and enables you to monitor the requests’ status. The service functions fairly well and supports a good variety of data brokers in my tests. But you will need to exercise some patience in order to use this kind of service. After you sign up, your data won’t be immediately deleted.
Additionally, there is no app to download and set up. Everything is done online at Incogni.com. It offers a dashboard where you can keep track of the requests that have been received, are being processed, or have already been finished. However, the service won’t check to see whether the data broker really did remove your information. Even so, it’s really simple and will undoubtedly benefit you more than if you tried to do the same thing manually.
Review of Incogni in a Nutshell
Pros
- It saves you time by sending data removal requests under your name.
- Simple, well-organized, and user-friendly UI
- reports on answers from data brokers and keeps track of them.
- reasonably affordable
- Recurrent data deletions
Cons
- Makes queries to a pre-set list of data brokers without examining who holds your data.
- Only accessible in the EU, the UK, the US, and Canada.
- doesn’t disclose the data that was discovered at each broker.
Incogni is a helpful tool for safeguarding your online privacy in general. It leverages privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to compel data collectors to delete your personal information from their online databases. Note: Incogni only functions in the UK, US, Canada, and EU due to the jurisdictions of these rules.
All you need to create an Incogni account are your name and email address. However, for Incogni to function effectively, you must also provide your address, confirm your email address, sign the permission form, and pick a plan. Although it should be highlighted that Incogni uses temporary marketing cookies on their website, they take great care when handling your data.
Over 180 data brokers are currently partners with Incogni, and this figure is rising. This comprises brokers from many industries, such as marketing, recruiting, financial services, and risk management, as well as people who search websites (there are over 66 of them).
In comparison to other services, Incogni’s plans are reasonably priced. We’d like a live chat support option, but Incogni’s customer care team is really quick and responsive via email.
Within a week of our registration, Incogni had fulfilled 23 official data removal requests, leaving 81 more on hold. Although it was unable to confirm the precise information that the brokers concealed, this rate is nevertheless impressive.
Incogni is an excellent solution for deleting data overall. However, there is some opportunity for this service to expand, and we’re interested to see how it will change over time.
How does it function?
101 Data Brokers
I believe it’s crucial to highlight the privacy and security concerns caused by data brokers’ business methods and surveillance capitalism in general before we get into the specifics of Surfshark’s Incogni service.
As many people are already aware, practically every website you visit and use has tracking and analytics scripts installed. These trackers gather a wide range of information about your activities and who you are. The more obvious information is also included, such as your IP address, location, email address, physical address, transactions, etc. However, these trackers also gather less visible data, such as your device’s supported capabilities, the typefaces you use, where you click and hover on websites, how long you spend on particular pages, etc.
Furthermore, these monitoring algorithms are able to infer details about you, such as your race, marital status, health, political leanings, religious beliefs, and even your expected future actions (such as what you’re likely to buy or who you’re likely to vote for).
The data brokers who get all of that information can (and often do) utilize it to create a shadow profile of you (and me, and everyone else). These profiles are kept in databases that the highest bidder can buy or rent. Governments, banks, insurance providers, and hacker collectives can all be included in this.
Furthermore, data brokers participate in both sides of the information economy by buying and selling data as well. This means that the profiles they create for you are probably going to be repackaged and sold or rented to other data brokers, who will combine that information with other personal information databases they already own to gain a better understanding of your (and everyone else’s) identity and personality. That procedure is a never-ending cycle of rinse and repeat.
The collection, acquisition, and sale of so much data may result in bank loan and credit card denials as well as increased insurance prices. You become open to political and other forms of influence as a result. Additionally, it makes it possible for law enforcement authorities to get some of your most private information during criminal investigations without following the rules of due process, such as warrants. Additionally, it could lead to the theft of your identity.
How Much Does Incogni Cost?
When compared to other services like Abine DeleteMe or Kanary, Incogni’s cost is still fairly reasonable. This was last updated on February 13th. There are two price options:
- Plan for one month: $12.99
- Monthly plan: $6.49 ($77.88 annually)
- We suggest the yearly plan if you want to save money because it offers a 50% discount over the monthly plan. PayPal or a credit card can be used to make payments.
The majority of internet privacy technologies cost substantially more than Incognito. For instance, the annual subscription to Kanary is $105 and the family plan is $150. Similarly to that, DeleteMe costs $129 a year. Being able to remove data on a budget is good and welcome. However, keep in mind that the more expensive options frequently include a richer breakdown of what they were able to eliminate as well as a more in-depth examination of the data they were able to find.
Incognito Surfshark
Understanding the aforementioned demands requires that one be engaged in the privacy sphere. Indeed, Surfshark has that advantage. Ad and tracker blocking are included in its VPN service, and Incogni serves as the relay for anything that slips through that shouldn’t. It operates in a rather straightforward manner.
You register using the email address you typically use. Although you may register with a throwaway email address, that would be counterproductive in this case. For it to end up in the hands of data brokers, the address must have been utilized.
Your email needs to be verified. You receive an email from Incogni, and to confirm it, you click a link in the email. Incogni only supports one physical address and one email address at this moment. In the future, it intends to enable numerous addresses.
After your email has been verified, you will be asked for your postal address. Since this information is utilized in the removal requests, it’s crucial to supply the proper address.
You must sign the Incogni authorization form after supplying your address to give the firm permission to use your personal information to send removal requests on your behalf. The authorization document has to be electronically signed.
Then you are asked to make a payment. After making your choice between monthly and yearly payments and providing a payment method, you’re done. From this point on, Surfshark’s Incogni takes over, and you are not needed. Here is what follows:
Why purchase a recurring Incogni subscription?
You may be perplexed as to why Incogni provides annual and monthly memberships. Don’t one or two data removal requests suffice to settle the matter? This is regrettably not the case.
A formal request for data removal may compel a broker to remove your information, but it won’t prevent them from re-collecting it. Incogni makes requests to remove personal data repeatedly for this reason. As long as a user has a valid Incogni membership, they can guarantee that their data will not be sold.
Incogni also continues to add more data brokers. A long-term membership will be beneficial since your data will be deleted from more locations over time due to this growing list. You may begin using Incogni to safeguard your data right away if you want to.
Service to customers at Incogni
The alternatives for Incogni’s customer service are rather restricted. There was neither a phone number nor a live chat option available. Nevertheless, Incogni offers trustworthy email help at this address: [email protected].
By emailing them some inquiries, we put Incogni’s customer service to the test. We received a thorough response in less than an hour, which is impressive.
Additionally, Incogni provides a useful knowledge library with articles on dealing with data brokers, removing data, and other topics. We thought the responses were appropriate and thorough. This knowledge base has expanded over time and currently contains a lot more data than it did during our previous experiments. This demonstrates how faithfully they keep their pledge to enhance their service.
Questions and Answers
Is it free?
It’s free to register for an Incogni account. However, in order for Incogni to make data removal requests on your behalf, you must sign up for either the monthly or yearly subscription. Despite the monthly plan’s high cost, the yearly plan offers better savings.
Is it real?
Incogni is legitimate; that much is true. The privacy service excels at identifying which data brokers are in possession of your data, contacting them on your behalf to seek their removal, and giving updates. Additionally, Surfshark, a top cybersecurity business with a spotless track record, constructed it.
What does Incogni cost?
The $12.99-lowest monthly plan offered by Incogni You will only pay half, or $6.49 each month (a total of $77.88), if you choose the annual plan.
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