Have you ever thought about if you have a digital footprint beyond your knowledge?
It’s nice to think that the only information about us on the internet is what we put out there ourselves; however, that isn’t always the case. It’s disturbing to think about it, yet if your name and photo are on the internet, it’s possible your information could be on even more websites or even on the dark web.
Here’s how to check for your information online and then how to remove it if you find anything you weren’t expecting.
Try searching various combinations of your full name, city and state, and even your own address, phone number, or email. This can help you find information about yourself online and see what others can find about you.
The pervasive threat to personal privacy online
The primary offenders in spilling your personal information online are data broker sites, aka “People Search sites”, which allow you to input the name of any person, often for a fee, and receive their contact information such as phone numbers and addresses, age, birthdate, work history, etc. WebFX reports that there are more than 4,000 data broker sites collecting data on over 500 million consumers worldwide.
One of the challenges of protecting your online privacy is dealing with the numerous data broker sites that collect and sell your personal information. These sites often operate without your consent or knowledge, and they can be hard to track down and remove yourself from. Even if you manage to delete your data from some of the popular sites, as we have shown you how to do, there is no guarantee that it will stay deleted.
Data broker sites can resell your information to other sites or simply restore it from their backups. This creates a frustrating situation where you have to constantly monitor and update your removal requests. It’s like playing whack-a-mole with your data. Unfortunately, there is no effective regulation or oversight of these sites, so you are left to fend for yourself in this digital jungle.
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