Do you ever get the urge to escape from the internet and make yourself invisible? Due to the amount of public information online, completely removing yourself is probably impossible. However, you can reduce your exposure and make yourself much less visible online.
Do you want to make yourself invisible online?
Maybe you believe there is little or no information about you online. You might be right, or you might be surprised. Tech consultant Kim Komando says, “If you want to find information on other people, that process has never been more streamlined. But you might be just as easy to investigate.” She offers several tips to find out what is online about you or anyone else, from doing a Google search to checking the Sex Offender Registry.
Steps to removing yourself from the internet include:
- Delete your online accounts. You may have dozens of accounts at places such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix and many other sites. Deleting them can be complicated and time consuming, so using a service such as Account Killer can save time.
- Remove yourself from data broker sites. There are many sites that offer collections of personal information to anyone who wants it, for free or a fee. Abine.com has a paid service that can remove your data from 25 major vendors, as well as free information on how to do it yourself.
- Close your email accounts. This may be where we lose you. Deleting all your email accounts is a big step. If you decide to take this step, do not simply stop using your email accounts. If you are not monitoring an account, it could be hacked and you wouldn’t know.
- Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to make your browsing more private.
Maybe some of the suggested steps are more than you want to do. You want to stay online, but with less visibility and more privacy. The good news is, you can protect your privacy without leaving the online world.
The Wall Street Journal suggests the following:
- Share less. Oversharing makes too much information about you available, including to advertisers and those who might use the information against you (e.g., using knowledge of your whereabouts to rob you or burglarize your home).
- Block your browser. Browsers, such as Chrome and Firefox, may install invisible trackers to monitor your online activity. Use a plug-in to block them. To find plug-ins, do a search for “tracker blocking browser plug-in.”
- Ask sites to remove your data. Most of the time you cannot require that sites remove your data, but many will do so if you ask. Although you cannot remove photos posted by others on Facebook, you can remove your name from them.
- Use fake information. Many sites do not need your real name, birth date or email address. Use fake information to protect your privacy.
- Remember that when a product is free, you are the product. That means your data will be sold to advertisers, data brokers and others, so use caution when signing up for “free” services.
