Most people don’t Google themselves until it’s too late. A failed background check, a landlord who says no, an awkward conversation with a new employer — that’s when people discover what’s already been indexed about them for years. I built FixMyRecord to solve this problem. It’s a personal reputation scanner that checks data broker sites, background check databases, and court record aggregators, then automates the removal process. The experience of building it fundamentally changed how I think about digital identity.
The Scale of the Problem
There are over 4,000 data broker sites in the United States. They scrape public records — arrest logs, court filings, property records — and republish them without context. A dismissed charge still appears. A fifteen-year-old case ranks on page one. For the 70 million Americans with some form of criminal record, this creates a permanent digital barrier to reentry. But it’s not just a reentry issue. Anyone who’s been in a lawsuit, gone through a divorce, or simply lived at enough addresses has a data trail that brokers monetize.Behavioral Science Meets Technology
My background at the University of New Mexico’s MATEO Lab focused on health behavior change — understanding what motivates people to take action. That research informs every product I build. FixMyRecord’s reputation score, live results page, and step-by-step removal workflow are all designed around behavioral activation: show someone a concrete problem, give them a concrete next step, reduce friction to zero. The same principle drives Resilience, a gamified reentry support platform I’m developing, and LocalMention, an AI visibility audit for local businesses.Taking Control
The gap between the right to be forgotten and the ability to exercise it is where tools like FixMyRecord live. GDPR, CCPA, and state-level privacy laws give you the legal right to request removal. But most people don’t know these rights exist, and the process of exercising them is deliberately tedious. Technology can close that gap. And it should. Google yourself today. Use quotes. Check three pages deep. What you find might surprise you — and understanding it is the first step to controlling it.More from Fillip Kosorukov
- From Behavioral Science to Software: How Psychology Shapes the Products I Build
- What Running a VPS Taught Me About Systems Thinking and Resilience
- Why I Build Tools for People the Tech Industry Overlooks
- Building Four Products on One Server: What I’ve Learned as a Solo Founder
- Why Your Online Reputation Is Your Most Valuable Digital Asset
Related Reading
- Your Name Is a Search Term: How to Control What Google Says About You
- Building Four Products on One Server: What I’ve Learned as a Solo Founder
- From Behavioral Science to Software: How Psychology Shapes the Products I Build
- What Running a VPS Taught Me About Systems Thinking and Resilience
- Why I Build Tools for People the Tech Industry Overlooks
