After over a decade of social media networks and platforms collecting our data, creating
profiles based on our interests and likes, selling personal information to the highest
bidder and leaks and hacks continually happening… you may wonder how do you delete yourself
from the internet?
That’s a loaded question. There’s a lot of reasons why your data exists online in
the first place and if you don’t take preliminary measures to keep it from being there in the
first place, your data will always be there…
People who’ve been targeted in stalking, harassment or online bullying may get doxxed
and sometimes you have no control over what other people choose to publish about you.
But you can take a few steps to remove data about yourself from
the internet.
Why should you listen to me, though? I’m Shannon Morse, and this is Morse Code. I’ve
been working on educational videos about security and privacy for over 10 years, and I’ve
made over 1000 videos on the topic across multiple Youtube channels. Some of my besties
are professional hackers and I’ve learned what malicious attackers use to find you online.
And one of the best defenses is thinking like an attacker. What’s the easiest way to search
for information on the internet? What sites would an attacker use to find info about you?
Where do businesses go to find dragnets of information on thousands of people, including
yourself?
Your first stop should be Google.
Google is a search engine, but it’s also a business that makes money, and Google tracks
search queries. This means on one hand: your searches on Google will be more streamlined
and consistent based on your personal interests and needs, but also, search queries are used
for marketing and data collection.
So there’s two parts to this first tip. One would be: use a different search engine,
like DuckDuckGo, which offers searches with anonymity and privacy. Since searches are
private, they won’t be tailored specifically to your data profile, but will still give
you expected results. When you use an alternative search engine, that gives Google less information
to collect on you regarding your interests and searches.
If you want to manage your search history on google, there’s a setting for that. I’ve
included this link in the description below this video (click on the title on mobile),
and from this dashboard, you can Manage your search history, turn on Auto Delete and set
time intervals for deletion of search queries, you can delete specific searches, etc etc.
You can spend a lot of time perusing this dashboard and customizing your settings, and
this is a place you should definite audit from time to time to see what data is being
collected.
The second part has to do with search results about you. When someone searches your name,
what comes up? Have you ever Googled yourself? Google does abide by the 2018 GDPR in the
EU and “right to be forgotten” which was established in 2014 as a way for people to
have more rights over their data. This means you can send requests to Google to have data
removed from their search engine results, but it DOES NOT remove those websites from
the internet, just from Google's search results. We don’t have a right to be forgotten here
in the US federally, though some states have started implementing their own privacy regulations
like California, but if you’re in the EU, this is a great tool for individuals.
OK, so you’ve removed your search history from google, and you’ve searched your name
to see what sites have data about you. Where do you go from here? That brings me to my
sponsor for this episode, Delete Me.
Data privacy is HARD and it takes a long time to get your information off the internet once
it's there. Information like your full legal name, your address, age, phone number, family
members, email address, and more are constantly shared between companies oftentimes without your
consent, and it's really easy for any person or business to find these details about you, by
using sites called data brokers and google search. That can put you at risk or financial
theft, emotional stress, and physical harm. I should know, in the past I've been a victim
of physical harassment and stalking. I tried manually opting out of these data broker sites
but it takes literally HOURS to do every month and I could spend that time doing more rewarding
things. These data brokers don't care about your safety. They keep repopulating your information
so you have to keep sending requests to be opted out.
So years ago I found this service called DeleteMe and I signed up for a membership. DeleteMe
reduces the amount of unwanted personal information exposed about you on the web by these data
brokers. They go through all the data broker websites for you, over and over again, search
for your data, and send opt out requests and removal requests in a timely manner. And they
keep checking back to ensure your data isn't being repopulated. Since I've been a paying
customer of DeleteMe for so long, I can show you my own reports. The last one saved over
45 hours of searching, and over 8 hours of removal requests. That's more than a week
of work, yall.
I am SO HAPPY to partner with DeleteMe and tell you about their service because your
privacy rights are a huge reason why my channel exists. Information security experts recommend
DeleteMe all the time and for good reason. Try it for yourself, sign up for DeleteMe
today using the link below, grab yourself a discounted membership when you pay annually,
and stay safe by getting your data off the internet. Thank you to DeleteMe for sponsoring
this episode!
So other than search engines and data brokers, where else does your information end up online?
One place is in data breaches and leaks. Whenever attackers steal data online, they might post
it for sale on the dark web or leak it publicly, meaning anyone could download the stolen data
too. That can include your email address and phone number. So I’ve used HIBP for most
of the 2010’s and still to this day to track data breaches that my info ends up in. Once
you know which breaches your data is a part of, you can take action by deleting your profile
and account from that website, changing your password in the event passwords (encrypted
or not) were stolen, and maybe even choosing to make a new email address that’s separate
from the now-public one for a little better privacy.
With any accounts online, you should have the option to delete your profile, or at least
change the data associated with that account (like your phone number, shipping address,
email address etc). That includes deleting old email addresses or social media profiles
that you no longer use, or removing as much information from them as possible then making
your profiles private. For example, on Twitter, you can make your profile private, same with
Instagram. Facebook lets you change the default setting for any new
posts to be “friends only” along with a few other options, which means anyone you
don’t accept won’t see your new posts. You can go through pages you’ve liked and
unlike all of them for less targeted advertisements.
And if you don’t know if you have a profile or account on a website, you can use a tool
like JustDelete DOT me to find places where you have accounts and figure out the steps
required to delete those profiles. You can also use a site like KnowEm to find out if
your usual username has been taken on popular websites. One great way I keep tabs on where
I have signed up for accounts is by using a password manager. I save all of my logins
in a password manager (and protect that with a hardware key like a yubikey). and now and
then I’ll look through my password manage vault to see if there’s any accounts I no
longer need. I’ll log into those old accounts and check if there’s a way to delete my
profile.
Another way to find accounts you’ve signed up for is by using the search function in
your email inbox. Try searching for the word “unsubscribe” and see what pops up. Now
you know what services you’ve signed up for that are tied to your
email account.
Another pro tip to find accounts you may not remember signing up for is to check your social
media accounts. Log into twitter or facebook and go into your settings, and look for a
settings page for third party apps or connected apps - these are sites that allow you to log
in by connecting them with your twitter or facebook. Often times you may want to revoke
or remove the connected third party app from having a connection to your social media identity,
so audit this list now and then.
And I know that there are websites out there that make it incredibly hard or just don’t
remove profiles at all. And if that’s the case, and if you still have access to that
account, then log into those accounts and start deleting as much information as you
can from those profiles. If you can’t delete the information, then change it to something
fake or use generic photos instead of your personal photos. Use an alias instead of your
real name, and if they require you to have an email address or physical shipping address
on file, see if you can set up a private mailbox for shipping or input a PO Box or virtual
mailing address. Some of these services cost money but it adds a layer of privacy since
you wouldn’t be putting your home address on a service.
Some email services like ProtonMail are privacy first, and
you may want to consider switching to one of these options. Same with browsers - some
are more private than others - with a browser like Brave being an excellent option.
What else can you do to delete yourself from the internet? How can you erase your identity
online? It’s a tough task especially if you’ve been using your identity online for
a long time. These are just a few of the early steps you can take to start this journey which
can take you down a rabbit hole of privacy actions. If you want to see a part 2 that
continues this overview, then let me know in the comments… that is, if you have a
youtube account lol. Special thanks again to DeleteMe for sponsoring this episode, check
them out below, and subscribe for more privacy topics.