Here's how you can delete yourself from the internet
Tuesday, December 18, 2018 IST
While you cannot erase your presence completely from the digital world, there are ways to delete a bulk of your personal information available online and minimise your digital footprint.
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We all have heard stories about identity fraud, social engineering, data theft and the problems are only going to worsen in the coming years. There isn't much we can do other than getting 'off the grid' but that would be an extreme reaction. Also, you cannot delete yourself from the internet completely. Your presence on the information superhighway isn't going anywhere. However, all is still not lost. You can delete a lot of online information about yourself and minimise your digital footprint. Here are some of the ways you can do it.
Delete all your unnecessary online accounts: We knowingly or unknowingly sign up for all kinds of unnecessary services that we either don't use or have no idea about. First step towards deleting a part of internet from your life would be to unsubscribe and get rid of all the services that you don't use. The easiest way to do it is by using 'Account Killer', a website that provides easy instructions to delete user accounts from most websites.
Delete social media and shopping accounts: Think Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus etc. How about shopping sites like Amazon, Flipkart? These social accounts and shopping sites know a lot about us and some even sell that information! Get rid of them all. Most of these accounts can be deleted by looking for a delete option under the 'Account settings' menu.
Remove yourself from 'people search sites': Sites like Pipl, Spokeo, Whitepages.com, PeopleFinder etc. can sell your personal details like home address, phone number for a small fee. These websites collect data from your social network and other online accounts. There are services likes DeleteMe which will remove your name, email, addresses and more, from online data brokers who profit from collecting and selling this information.
Remove personal information & search results: If your personal information appears in one or more Google services then you can get it removed by submitting the removal request to the Google service where the content appears. Similar request can be sent to Google regarding the removal of outdated search results about you.
Remove email accounts: This one is not easy. Email services are important to us. Removing it can cripple your online life, completely. If you're sure about 'deleting the internet', then this has to be the last nail in the proverbial coffin.
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