How do I remove my information from the internet? Especially with modern issues on online privacy and government monitoring information has become a major concern for users.
From Social media to expert portfolio and shopping accounts the society is deeply into the internet. The internet is inescapable as it plays a great role in our daily activities. For every activity done via the internet there is always a footprint we leave and this is endless. But can we get rid of footprints of our information completely off the internet? And are we able to do this free without spending a dime?
The answer isn’t so simple, as the saying goes, the internet is forever, committed stalkers will be able to track you down. However, if you are devoted and patient, you may greatly come close to removing your entire digital footprint. Here you will learn how to do it.
Delete Some Online Accounts
Social media is the first obvious sites for internet sleuths to appear. Not only do social media sites reveal non-public facts (including your address), they could give insight into your peer groups, scheduled invents and hobbies – all clues useful for tracking you down.
Each platform has on its settings page a delete option to delete the account you created with them. Facebook is a bit trickier though. You might get an option to deactivate temporarily incase you choose to come again and so your data will be saved on their server. To ensure that your account is fully deleted, you will have to fill out a form and agree that your account should be deleted without alternatives for recovery.
It doesn’t stop on social media; check on other membership accounts that you created like Amazon, ebay Reddit, Netflix. Visit all and delete each account as may apply to your request since your whereabout can be known with the slightest bit of statistics. If for any reason you can’t delete your account, try to falsify the information like changing your name, residence, email address and other information that may reveal your identity.
Search for Yourself and Cut Any Remaining Ties
Now that you have eliminated the obvious accounts you frequently use, what about some old activities on old websites and blogs you hardly use these days? You will still have to do a search for your name and see what comes up. Similar to steps taken previously, carefully go through each and delete the accounts that remains. Even when you have this achieved, you might still have some information visible – like some of your photos on your school’s website or some history on some webpages. Of such you may not have direct means of deleting such items, so you need to reach out to the webmaster or the website operator to do so for you.
In such case you will have to be patient and polite giving a full detail explanation why such information has to be removed, and hopefully the website operator will comply with this request. Else you may have to resolve this via a legal measure. It is possible to send Google a legal request to put a content off the search engine. Such procedure doesn’t guarantee Google will agree.
Get Rid of Outdated Search Results
so you deleted your accounts and efficiently removed any remaining content, but a search for your name nonetheless brings up results — despite the fact that your name is not certainly found on the web page. Huh? that is because the search engine cached the old version of a website.
both Google and Bing have tools to eliminate cached content. simply post the URL in query and wish for the best, because there’s no assurance they’ll honor your request for a lot of reasons. That being stated, Google offers solutions to denied requests and you may cope with those to ensure no links are still figuring out your name. Like we stated, this process requires patience.
Clean Your Information from Data Collection Web Sites
optimistically through this factor searches for your call are striking out. despite the fact that your identity might not appear in a typical Google seek, some of companies are still amassing your data.
data brokers together with Intelius, Spokeo and PeopleFinders track online behavior and sell that facts to interested customers. normally it’s advertisers looking to sell you products, but you in no way know. it’s great not to go away that door open, so you’ll need to clear your name from those websites.
you can try this personally by means of attempting to find yourself on these web sites and going through every individual service to get your name removed. but it’d take some time and require a variety of phone calls, physical office work and a fax system (you’re seeking to remove yourself from the internet, right?).
You are likely better off the use of a paid service like DeleteMe to achieve these outcomes. For a one-year membership for $129, DeleteMe will do away with your public profile from all the leading data collection sites, in addition to your contact, personal, and social information and photographs of you, your family, and your property. Then every 3 months, the organization will send you a privacy document to ensure you’re aware of the progress.
Contact Your Telephone Company, Unsubscribe from Mailing Lists And Delete Your Email Accounts
That’s it, the home stretch. you’ve painstakingly long past through all of the steps to erase your online identity. Now you simply want to do 3 minor things.
First, reach out for your telephone company and ensure your information isn’t always listed online. in that case, have them remove your name and any other applicable information.
Now go through junk/unsolicited mail/promotion folders and unsubscribe from any mailing lists you’re registered to. You do not need any proof of an e-mail address final.
To cement this point, delete each and every one of your email accounts. you have stored them up so far in case you needed to receive any data about password or username modifications, however now that’s now not important. remember: Deactivating isn’t always sufficient; they want to be permanently deleted.
Congratulations, you no longer exist online. right?
well, genuinely … you likely still do. it is incredibly difficult to fully delete your presence on the web, however by following above steps, you have come as close as you possibly can. somewhere, by some means, there may be a bit clue remaining — a cached website, forgotten weblog or unlisted YouTube video — but the technique of tracking you down has emerged as notably harder. Now, it will take the very high-quality of internet detectives to hunt you down. proper success.
