The PeopleConnect opt-out doesn't cover Classmates

One request at PeopleConnect's Suppression Center clears Intelius, TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate and US Search. Classmates is excluded by name. It runs a separate process, and if a yearbook photograph is what brought you here, nothing you did at those four sites has touched it.

Broker profile

Classmates.com

Lists elementary-school alumni
Not covered by the family opt-out

One of PeopleConnect's brands, alongside Intelius, TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate and US Search, and the one holding something the others do not. Alongside decades of scanned yearbooks, Classmates publishes open alumni lists: your name, the school and the years you were there, readable by anyone without an account. Not only high schools either, elementary schools are listed the same way. It's also the one brand the family's shared Suppression Center doesn't cover, so opting out of those four leaves this untouched. Removing the listing takes about ten minutes. Removing a yearbook photograph is harder.

Opt out of Classmates.com Visit classmates.com

Classmates.com overview

At a glance

Quick facts

Redact's exposure rating

Moderate

LimitedModerateSubstantialExtensive

Data published: Editorial estimate
Re-listing frequency: Editorial estimate
Complaint record: Mixed
Opt-out friction: Editorial estimate
Operator opacity: Fully disclosed
Prior data incidents: None documented

Our editorial assessment from public sources as of August 25, 2026. Each dimension is scored 1 to 4, higher means more exposure, and the overall gauge is their average, unless a confirmed breach holds it higher. It is an opinion, not a finding about the company's conduct or legal compliance. Dimensions marked "Editorial estimate" are estimated from the kind of service offered rather than observed on this site. How we score

What each dimension means

Data published: how much and how sensitive the personal data they put out.
Re-listing frequency: how quickly you reappear after opting out.
Complaint record: the volume and pattern of complaints across BBB, Trustpilot, and Sitejabber. No listing, or a listing with no reviews, counts against the broker.
Opt-out friction: how hard the removal process is to complete.
Operator opacity: how hidden the operating company and its principals are.
Prior data incidents: history of breaches or leaks of the data they hold.

Category: Yearbook archive · alumni directory
Operating entity: PeopleConnect, Inc., dba Classmates.com
Headquarters: 1687 114th Ave SE, Suite 200 Bellevue, WA 98004
Sibling brands: Intelius · TruthFinder · Instant Checkmate · US Search
Covered by the shared opt-out?: No. Excluded by name from the Suppression Center
Removing a listing: Support form · about ten minutes
Removing a yearbook photo: Email privacy@classmates.com with the page number
CA data broker registry: Not registered
Turnaround: Unstated · "a reasonable time"

Background

What makes this one different

Classmates publishes alumni lists by name and school, including elementary schools. When we walked the site without an account in August 2026, it reached an Alumni List for any school it holds, giving each person's name and the years they attended, and the schools include elementary ones.

The yearbooks sit behind that. A yearbook was a printed book handed to pupils at the end of a school year, long before it was scanned, indexed and made searchable decades later. That gap between the printed book and what exists now is what the cases below are about.

So Classmates holds a category of information none of its sibling brands does. Intelius, TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate and US Search publish records assembled from public sources about adults. Classmates publishes school rolls and photographs, including photographs taken when the people in them were minors.

It's also the odd one out administratively. The other brands appear on California's data broker register under their own names, Intelius, LLC and Instant Checkmate, LLC among them. Classmates doesn't appear at all.

The family opt-out excludes Classmates. PeopleConnect says its Suppression Center covers its people-search sites, but it excludes Classmates by name. You need a separate request to remove a yearbook page.

Data Published

Data types

What's on the page

Sensitive: elevated identity-theft, doxxing, or safety riskStandard public-record field

Alumni lists naming everyone at a school, readable without an accountSensitive
Scanned yearbook photographs, including of minorsSensitive
Your name as it was printed in the yearbook
The school you attendedSensitive
The exact years you attended, which implies your ageSensitive
Page numbers, making a specific image addressable
Clubs, teams and activities printed alongside the photograph
Member profiles and reunion details, where someone has registered

Where it comes from. Scanned print yearbooks, contributed and acquired over more than two decades. The source is a physical book rather than a public records feed, which is why a listing here doesn't behave like the ones on the sibling sites.

Contact

Contacts & links

PeopleConnect, Inc.

Operating entity: PeopleConnect, Inc., dba Classmates.com
Privacy compliance address: Privacy Compliance 1687 114th Ave SE, Suite 200 Bellevue, WA 98004
Removal and privacy email: privacy@classmates.com
Request form: help.classmates.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Privacy policy: Effective March 3, 2026

Two routes, and the policy only describes the harder one. An alumni listing comes down through the support form, using the address of the listing itself, which takes about ten minutes. A yearbook photograph is the one the policy covers, and it asks for your name as printed, the school, the year, the page you appear on and screenshots. You're expected to locate and index your own photograph before they'll act on it.

Network

Related sites

The PeopleConnect family

One of PeopleConnect's brands, alongside Intelius, TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate and US Search. Those four share a removal process and this one does not.

Owned or operated by PeopleConnect, Inc.38 entities in this network · Operating companyExplore the full map

Reputation

Trust signals

A+ and 319 complaints

The BBB gives Classmates an A+ and has accredited it since 1999, and it also logs 319 complaints in the last three years, 78 of them in the last twelve months. Trustpilot is harsher, at 1.2 out of 5 from 172 reviews.

Trustpilot172 reviews · claimed profile1.2 / 5As of 2026-10Check Trustpilot ↗

Better Business BureauClassmates.com · Bellevue, WA · accredited since 1999 · 319 complaints in 3 yearsA+As of 2026-10View profile ↗

Litigation

Litigation history

The yearbook cases

Four federal cases have run at PeopleConnect over the yearbook photographs, brought under state right of publicity laws. Each case makes the same argument, that using someone's photograph and name to advertise a subscription is commercial use of their likeness, taken without permission.

Callahan v. PeopleConnect, Inc.

Active

Docket checked August 25, 2026.

N.D. Cal. 3:20-cv-09203 · Filed December 18, 2020

Court: Northern District of California · Judge Edward M. Chen
Appeal: 9th Cir. No. 21-16040 · reversed the arbitration denial and remanded
Status: Not terminated as of Aug 2026

The Classmates-side case, and the one where PeopleConnect won its arbitration point. The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's refusal to compel arbitration and sent it back, and as of August 2026 the docket showed it live on remand.

CourtListener docket ->

Boshears v. PeopleConnect, Inc.

Active

Docket checked August 25, 2026.

W.D. Wash. 2:21-cv-01222 · Filed September 7, 2021 · 9th Cir. 76 F.4th 858

Court: Western District of Washington · Judge Marsha J. Pechman
Claim: Indiana right of publicity
Status: Not terminated as of Aug 2026

The furthest-developed of the yearbook cases. The Ninth Circuit decided the appeal in August 2023, leaving the arbitration denial in place and dismissing the Section 230 portion for want of jurisdiction rather than on the merits.

CourtListener docket ->

Knapke v. PeopleConnect, Inc.

Dismissed

W.D. Wash. 2:21-cv-00262 · Filed March 2, 2021 · Reached SCOTUS as No. 21-725

Court: Western District of Washington · Judge Marsha J. Pechman
Status: District case terminated October 19, 2022

The case that got closest to a definitive answer and didn't produce one. A cert petition reached the Supreme Court's docket and was dismissed by joint stipulation in December 2021 without any ruling on the merits.

Worth being precise about, because "went to the Supreme Court" is often written up as though something was decided. Nothing was.

CourtListener docket ->

Mackey v. PeopleConnect, Inc.

Active

Docket checked August 25, 2026.

N.D. Ill. 1:22-cv-00342 · Filed January 20, 2022 · 7th Cir. No. 23-1617

Court: Northern District of Illinois · Judge Virginia M. Kendall
Motions to dismiss: Denied March 2023
Status: Terminated June 20, 2023 · on appeal as of Aug 2026

The Illinois entry in the same line. The motions to dismiss were denied in March 2023 and the district case terminated three months later with an appeal taken to the Seventh Circuit. The docket doesn't record the reason for termination, so we don't characterise it.

CourtListener docket ->

No FTC action and no state attorney general enforcement against Classmates was found. The FTC's 2023 order in this family named TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate over background report accuracy, and didn't concern the yearbooks.

FAQ

Q & A

Common questions

I opted out of Intelius and TruthFinder. Am I off Classmates?

No. PeopleConnect excludes Classmates from its Suppression Center by name. Classmates needs its own request.

I never signed up. Why is my photograph there?

Because the source is a printed school yearbook rather than anything you gave them. A book handed out at the end of a school year was scanned, indexed and put online.

Why do they want the page number and a screenshot?

Their policy asks for your name as printed, the school, the year, the page you appear on and, where possible, screenshots. In practice that means finding your own photograph before they'll remove it, which is the hardest part of the whole process.

Is Classmates a registered data broker?

Not in California. Intelius, LLC and Instant Checkmate, LLC both appear on the state's register and Classmates does not.

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Last updated August 25, 2026.

Written from the Classmates privacy policy dated March 3, 2026, read directly, and from the four PeopleConnect yearbook cases on CourtListener. Not found on California's data broker register, checked against the registry CSV.

The page provides general information, not legal advice. Redact is not affiliated with or endorsed by Classmates.com or any other company named here. Spotted an error, or represent this company? Email support@redact.dev.