“We’ve all seen how a single social media post from years past can do serious harm to someone’s career. Like many young people, these players have been on social media for their entire lives. However, unlike most, they are about to be put under a level of public scrutiny akin to a public figure. They deserve the ability to clean up and provide context around their own online presence,” states BrandYourself CEO Patrick Ambron.

Social media has played a big part in previous draft classes and across the sport. BrandYourself’s Social Media Cleanup tool uses machine learning technology to scan a user’s social media accounts and identify any posts or images that could be deemed unprofessional — and helps the user clean them up. This includes mentions of profanity, drugs, alcohol, sex, crime, bullying, polarizing topics as well as derogatory, offensive and unprofessional language. It also flags images that contain alcohol, drugs, lewd gestures, weapons, and nudity.

Once a post has been flagged, the user has the option to delete the post via the software. The tool’s machine learning engine has learned from over 250 million posts and photos to accurately flag potentially damaging items.

Why it’s so important for everyone to have the tools to manage their online presence

Over the last 5 years, online screening has skyrocketed, used by colleges, employers, immigration offices, insurance companies and more to make important decisions about consumers. While well intentioned–online screening can inaccurately categorize posts because it lacks context. BrandYourself helps individuals clean up, protect and improve their own online reputation, so everyone can put an accurate foot forward.

How athletes entering the draft can take advantage of this offer:

From now through April 25, 2019, athletes entering the 2019 NFL Draft can:

• Sign up for a free account at brandyourself.com
• Email nfldraft@brandyourself.com requesting access to the premium Social Media Cleanup tool. Requests must be sent from a University or college issued email address.

In fact, this is one of the most common questions we’ve received since we started helping individuals protect their online privacy and reputation.

And it makes complete sense.

The average person has registered accounts on dozens of websites that are all linked to their primary email address. And a lot of them aren’t even being used.

This poses a major problem if you value your personal information and don’t want it to be accessed by others (we’ll explain why in a second).

But here’s the problem:

It’s a huge pain to figure out all the websites you’ve joined or had an account with. And there’s no perfect solution.

So where do you start?

Why This Is Important

Before we get into how you can find all the accounts linked to your email address, let’s quickly go over what makes doing this so important.

The reason we need to explain this is very simple.

Most people don’t realize just how risky it is to have multiple unused accounts spread out across the web. They might have a general idea (which is why they want a list of their accounts in the first place) but they aren’t very concerned.

Then this happens.

They discover that finding what accounts are linked to their email address is a little tricker than anticipated. They either have to spend some time setting things up on their own or use a tool (and some tools might not be trustworthy).

So they stop and let their unused accounts continue to exist on the web.

That’s why understanding the potential risk is so important. If everyone was aware of this, no one would give up so quickly.

And what makes it so risky in the first place?

As you’ve probably noticed, internet privacy has become more and more scarce with each passing year. An increase in data breaches and hacks means that even the most reputable of companies can accidentally give away your data.

This means it’s smart to minimize your exposure when it comes to your accounts online. The more you have, the greater chance there is of your data being compromised.

Ideally, you should only have accounts and give access to websites that you use regularly and get significant value from. But it’s highly unlikely that is the case.

So here you are.

How To Find All Accounts Linked To Your Email Address

Here’s a quick summary of the process you’ll use:

1. Log in to your email address
2. Click “Manage third-party access”
3. Remove anything you don’t want
4. Search your emails for subject lines associated with account creation
5. Make a list of these sites and delete or reach out to remove the unwanted accounts

This is what you’ll do if you want to find all accounts linked to an email address and get rid of them manually. Like we hinted at earlier, it will take a bit of time.

We’re currently developing a tool that can do most of the legwork for you (and you can try it for free). When that’s ready we’ll update this post.

Now let’s go through the process in detail.

Dealing With Apps Connected To Your Email Address

This is the logical place to start because it’s quick and can kickstart your list of linked accounts that you might want to delete later on.

Accounts that are connected to your email have the ability to access some of your data. What’s accessible varies based on the account, but it can be sensitive in nature.

So here’s where to start:

Visit your security page and look for the section that says “Third-party apps with account access”

Once you’ve found it click on the “Manage third-party access” link. This will take you to the dashboard where you can see accounts linked to your email address.

There will be three sections that break down what accounts have access. Take some time to think about what you want to get rid of.

You might see some sites that make your life significantly easier by being linked to your email. In this case, it’s up to you if the convenience is worth the risk.

Note: If you use other email service providers like Outlook or Yahoo you can find these options in a similarly-labeled area within their privacy settings.

Search Your Emails

This is where things become much less straightforward. But if you want to find out what sites your email address is registered to, it’s necessary.

The first thing to point out is there isn’t a perfect solution for this. Searching your emails is the best option, but it’s not foolproof.

This means there’s always a chance that an account will slip through the cracks. It’s just the way it is.

Now let’s get started.

The first thing you’ll want to do is run a search of the emails in your inbox, trash, and spam folders. This is where the trail of breadcrumbs begins for finding the accounts that are linked to your email address.

Some of the phrases you should experiment with searching are:

• “Account created”
• “Welcome to”
• “Verify your account”
• “Confirm your email”
• “Verify your email address”
• “Registration”
• “Activate account”

This will quickly give you a list of possible sites that you likely have an account with. There are probably a lot of them, so you’ll need to stay organized.

Take these emails and either tag or move them into a folder where you can easily locate them all at once. Label it whatever you want (we suggest “to be annihilated”).

Once this is done you can either work through them directly or pull it all to a separate spreadsheet to keep track of things a little better. It’s entirely up to you and what you think will make the process easy.

This is where things start to get a little repetitive.

If you’re not using software to help you out you’ll have to visit each of these sites one by one and get your account removed. This gets old fast, so you might want to throw on a movie in the background to help you keep your sanity.

Quick reminder: If you don’t want to do all this yourself you can have our tool handle the removal for you. You just click a button and we’ll take care of the accounts you don’t want.

For some of these sites, the easiest option is to simply delete the account by accessing the settings.

Facebook is a perfect example of a site where this makes the most sense. They have too many accounts to quickly deal with an emailed removal request, and they give you the ability to deactivate your account right in their dashboard.

Once you’re done with all of these sites it’s time to move on to the ones that are better suited for an email request.

By this, we mean sites that might not offer a clear deactivation option within their dashboard, or recommend that you get in touch with them if you wish to delete your account.

You might think that these are going to take up most of your time but it’s actually not that bad.

Here’s why:

You’re going to use some very specific language that will require them to take your request very seriously.

No, you’re not going to pitch a fit and demand to be removed. Instead, you’re simply going to reference GDPR.

GDPR has nothing to do with the process of finding all accounts linked to an email address. Its usefulness is strictly tied to the removal process.

Without spending too much time on the specifics, GDPR is a law that gives you the legal right to request the removal of your data from a website or service. There’s much more to it than that but for our purposes, this will be what we take advantage of.

Sending the emails

While it might be tempting to send one email out to all of the sites at once, you should avoid doing this.

The sites have to comply with your request, but a lot of them have policies against automated submissions. We’re not sure how this is allowed, but it’s a thing.

That means in order to do things right the first time you’ll want to send out individual emails to each. This won’t take that much longer because you can paste in the same message to each site, and you’ll be sure that your request makes it through.

There isn’t one specific template you should send out. Just make sure you mention the following points:

• You want to erase your personal data in accordance with Article 15 GDPR and that you meet the requirements of data removal requests set forth in Article 17(1) GDPR.
• That even if you consented to the processing of your personal data, you hereby withdraw consent and no longer want your data stored or processed by the site in question.

What to do next

You’re done for now, but there’s still a little work to do going forward. As we mentioned earlier there’s no perfect way of finding all accounts linked to your email address, so a few sites might have slipped through the cracks.

If you’re up to it you can do another pass through your past emails to look for anything you might have missed. Cleaning out your email is obviously not a fun task, but it has a good chance of uncovering something.

If you’re someone who sets up manual filters to keep your inbox tidy you should look at that list as well. You might be automatically deleting emails from sites that you joined a while back, and this list will help you identify them.

If you’re not interested in subjecting yourself to the torture of journeying through your inbox, there’s another option for you:

Wait for them to show their face.

This might seem too good to be true, but it’s one of the best ways to find accounts linked to your email address.

Websites you’ve joined will probably send you an email at some point. This could be to notify you about something or simply ask you to visit the site again.

No matter what the reason is, you should use this as an opportunity to get rid of the stragglers.

These emails might come to your inbox or spam, so check both periodically. After a while, you’ll probably be able to knock off a good chunk of the remaining sites your email address is registered to.

Here’s How To Automate The Process

Some of you might not be a fan of all that legwork. I know if I wanted to find all accounts linked to my email address I would be in the same boat.

That’s why we developed a tool of our own that automates the entire process. It will quickly scan your email to find what websites you might have joined, and then give you the option to remove whatever accounts you don’t want anymore.

If you want to find all the accounts linked to your email address for free you can still use our tool. We only charge if you want to use the automated delete feature, not the scan.

This tool should be publically available sometime in the next couple of weeks. We’ll update this post with links to the tool when it’s ready but in the meantime, you can sign up for a free account so we can notify you directly.

Get To It

Finding all accounts linked to your email isn’t as straightforward as it should be. In fact, it’s kind of a pain.

But with a little creativity and the methods above, you can figure out what sites your email address has been registered to. Having this information not only makes you more aware of the potential risk you face but puts you in the driver’s seat when it comes to protecting yourself.

If you’re a regular user of the internet there’s a good chance that you have at least a few existing accounts you don’t use anymore.

This is pretty normal. It’s the online equivalent of all that random junk that people cram into their basements.

While this might not seem like a big deal at first, it has the potential to turn into a major problem later on.

Having a lot of accounts floating around online significantly increases the risk of your information being compromised in a hack or data breach.

We’ve seen it happen with Facebook and Google, so any website could potentially be a victim (no matter how big).

This is the problem that Deseat.me is trying to solve.

But how does it work? Is it as effective as they say? Can they be trusted?

These are all questions we’ve read online and gotten from people directly as well. There seems to be a fair amount of distrust going around in the privacy space (for good reason).

So we’re going to try and shed some light on Deseat.me and how they operate.

How Deseat.me Works

The software and system behind Deseat.me is fairly simple. One reason for this is because they’re trying to make the process quick and easy.

Having to take a ton of steps when using their tool means they might as well just delete these accounts manually. Sure the scan is nice, but the real time saver if the auto-delete feature.

But there’s another reason why the system is so simple. Limited access.

From a technical perspective, there’s only so far they can reasonably go. It’s not possible for Deseat.me to magically access everyone’s accounts and deactivate them with automatically.

So they’re left with one thrilling option:

Email.

The entire process that Deseat.me uses to automatically delete your accounts is completely reliant on email in one form or another. While it may seem a little unsophisticated, it serves its purpose.

Here’s how it works:

They Scan Your Email Account

In order for Deseat.me to find out what accounts you’ve created in the past, they need to scan your emails. This might seem a little intrusive, but there’s a reason for this.

The vast majority of websites that allow you to create an account will send you some sort of email during the process. This might include a link to click in order to verify your account, or just welcome you to their site.

This is the trail of breadcrumbs that Deseat.me is looking for. By using this they can quickly compile a list of websites that you’ve created an account with, and move on to the next step.

You Decide What You Want To Remove

This is where most of the work is done on your part. You have to go through each of the sites that Deseat.me finds and select which of them you want to get rid of.

For some, this could be a pretty long list, but it still shouldn’t take super long. Chances are if you’re using their tool you’re open to the idea of purging accounts you don’t use regularly.

This means it’s more about finding the ones you do want to keep, as opposed to the ones you don’t.

Once this is done you can move on to the part of actually scrapping the accounts that didn’t make the cut.

Removal Requests Are Sent Out

This is where things sometimes get a little fuzzy for people, so it’s important to highlight how this all works.

Once you’ve used their tool to select which accounts you want to get rid of, they use emails to actually make this happen. Like we said before. their software can’t go in and automatically delete these accounts one by one.

Instead, Deseat.me will send out GDPR-compliant removal requests to the sites you don’t want to use anymore. This is an effective way of avoiding account access while still accomplishing the goal of removal.

There’s typically a delay between the time of the request and the actual removal. This is the downside of email, but it’s still a time-saver.

Concerns Over Security

While some people might not have an issue with the process described above, there are others who do.

From what we can tell, most of the concerns have nothing to do with the effectiveness of the tool. It’s simple and it works.

What some are worried about is the notion of letting Deseat.me access their email account in the first place. This requires a decent bit of trust in a website that popped up out of nowhere.

While that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s any funny business going on, it is worth being aware of. It’s incredibly common for software and tools to be created for the sake of stealing personal information from their users, or plant viruses on their device.

When an established company launches a new tool, you can have more confidence that there isn’t anything malicious going on. This doesn’t mean there can’t be concerns, but the chance of it being an all-out virus is pretty small.

Deseat.me seems to have been created by a couple of Swedish developers and released as a helpful project, but there’s not a whole lot of information available about them or the site. Again, this doesn’t mean there are any bad intentions (but it has led to some questions).

The app apparently runs locally on your device as well. This means (in theory) they won’t be able to access additional information in your account.

We saw someone online call it “well-branded malware” which seems a little dramatic in our opinion. Our concerns are more along the lines of security and what will be done in the future.

Here’s a common tale that illustrates what we mean:

A tool gets created with the intention of helping the general public. It gets a lot of interest and helps a good amount of people.

Then things change.

The creators decide they can’t feed their families on “interest” and decide to monetize the tool. Sometimes they can just throw up a few ads and call it a day.

But other times it’s not that easy.

When this happens all that data they have access to starts looking pretty tempting. This is where the privacy of their users goes out the window.

A subtle tweak to the terms of service and the obligatory email notifying their user base is sent out. But no one reads those anyway.

And then they have a field day.

Ok, that’s not true 100% of the time. Sometimes the creators sell the whole thing to someone else and THEY do that stuff.

We’re not saying this is going to happen with Deseat.me, but you can’t rule it out. It happens all the time in the software industry.

Here’s the interesting thing:

We would have a higher level of confidence in this service if they charged a fee for usage. This is because there would be less of an incentive to immediately sacrifice the internet privacy of their users for the sake of profits.

Free websites and software are usually the first ones to monetize the personal data of their customers. Just look at social networks and search engines.

So What Should You Do?

When it comes to Deseat.me there’s no perfect answer. We haven’t come across any evidence to suggest that the site was set up for malicious reasons, nor have we found a user who claims they abused the access that was granted.

But just know it comes with a risk (like everything online).

So here’s what we recommend:

If you have a trillion unused accounts and are comfortable with the concerns, give it a shot. It will probably be fine and you’ll have way fewer accounts that could come back to bite you in a data breach or hack.

But if the concept of giving them access to your emails is still very worrisome, you have to make a decision. There’s a danger to leaving your unused accounts alone as well.

If you can deal with the boredom of it, the safest thing to do is delete them one by one. If you can’t you’ll have to pick the lesser of two evils.

No matter what, if you end up using Deseat.me we highly recommend revoking their access to your email account when you’re finished.

You just never know.

This is because the incentives are all messed up.

It’s common practice for businesses to try and acquire as much personal information about you as possible. That’s because this data is more powerful than ever.

When a business has a ton of data about you they can be more effective with their marketing and deliver highly targeted advertisements.

More data = more money.

That means when push comes to shove a corporation will err on the side of being more intrusive, not less.

The problem is, a lot of people don’t know what to do. They’re either unaware that this is happening to them, or they think 100% of the blame should rest on these businesses.

And that’s a massive problem.

There’s a lack of understanding and ownership being taken by consumers when it comes to internet privacy, and it’s only digging us into a deeper hole. Each year that the public stays “concerned” but not engaged, it becomes harder to turn the ship around.

But that’s not all.

Aside from the issues with internet privacy that exist from the collection of your data, there are security risks as well. When so many businesses have massive databases of personal info, the chance of a data breach goes through the roof.

This means that a business like Facebook could collect massive amounts of data on its users and end up with a third party gaining access to it, even if they weren’t supposed to. Wait, that already happened.

So if you’re interested in learning about the state of internet privacy and what you can do to make sure you’re protected, read on. There will be something for everyone.

What Is Internet Privacy?

Internet privacy is the right to keep sensitive data and information produced as a result of using the web, private. Collecting this data and displaying it, selling it, or providing it to third parties are all common practices that can jeopardize internet privacy.

It’s important to understand the definition because it is commonly misused in conversation or in the news. Very often it’s mentioned when only describing a small subset of internet privacy or even a totally unrelated issue with social media.

This leads to a lot of misinformation floating around and a fragmented public understanding of the landscape. The first step in being able to look out for your rights online is having a clear understanding of what internet privacy is.

How Did We End Up Here?

We briefly touched on the current issue with internet privacy at the beginning of the article. You can talk to almost anyone and they’ll tell you the same thing.

But there’s a major lack of understanding about how we got here. And knowing this is very important.

The public opinion seems to be that companies like Facebook and Google are pushing the boundaries on internet privacy because it’s in the nature of who they are.

They’re looking out for themselves and their shareholders instead of their users, and we shouldn’t expect anything less from them.

Even if we don’t like it, that’s what big companies do. This makes the battle for internet privacy an “us versus them” situation right?

Not exactly.

As a matter of fact, consumers have played a major role in the erosion of internet privacy over the years.

We aren’t completely innocent here. We’ve done some of this to ourselves.

Here’s how:

In the early days of the internet, a seed was planted that still affects us to this day. This was the expectation for almost everything on the web to be available for free.

This was well-intentioned from the start, and it would be hard to imagine the internet today if this wasn’t the initial goal. Actually, you can easily make the case that more good came from this than bad.

The advances in technology, education, and medicine as a result of the internet can vouch for this.

But it came at a cost.

While free access to unlimited information has been one of the biggest game-changers in human history, this mindset carried over to our consumption of websites and internet-based products.

The thought of paying for access to email seemed crazy (and still does). Once sites like Napster gave us the idea that we could access music for free as well, we jumped all over it.

It took a major lawsuit to bring them down, but that kicked off a downward spiral that the music industry is still trying to fight their way out of.

Our resistance to paying for the things we love most on the internet is still evident everywhere. A good example is the outrage that occurs when Netflix announces they’re raising their prices. The constant debate on charging for online news content is another.

Major internet companies with tens or hundreds of millions of monthly active users are still trying to figure out the best way to make money as a result of this environment.

Falling Back On Old Reliable

Internet-based companies and publications like to position themselves as fancy and forward-thinking, but most of them are reliant on one of the oldest business models out there.

Selling ads.

Their reliance on this model is where we start to bump into some major issues with internet privacy.

Since it’s difficult to charge up front, they need to do something to keep the lights on. And lucky for them, it’s never been a better time to sell advertising to other companies.

This is why businesses are so interested in tapping into the massive amount of data that’s out there.

With just a handful of details about you, a company like Facebook or Google can sell ads for double the cost. But they’re not after a handful of details, they’re after hundreds.

When more user data equals more profit, it’s not hard to predict the direction the ship will go.

Are we proposing that we should suddenly pay for every site we use? Absolutely not.

Part of what makes the internet so impactful to the world is the fact that it can deliver information to those who wouldn’t have had it before. Throwing up a paywall on the whole thing would do more harm than good, and likely create more inequality than we already have.

So right now we’re in limbo. More of us are starting to understand that internet privacy is important and large companies are infringing on rights in creative new ways.

But until they find a more reliable way to make money they’re going to continue.

Why You Should Care

So it’s clear that there’s a problem when it comes to internet privacy, and it affects all of us.

But why should you care? What are the downsides that could impact you directly?

This is where we feel the media has failed to do their job when it comes to educating the general public about internet privacy. A lot of the coverage either stays vague and high-level or digs heavily into the legal repercussions.

But what do you do with that information? When Google got fined by the EU for antitrust violations, did that change the way you used their site?

Probably not.

We’re not saying that it isn’t important to be aware of this news and stay up to date on the recent state of internet privacy and any issues that come up. We highly recommend it if you have the time.

A strong understanding of how companies are using your data can help you make smarter decisions about how you use products on the internet.

It will also help you protect your internet privacy rights as you come across more of these issues in the ballot box. This is going to happen quite frequently as regulations start catching up with these massive tech companies.

But part of the equation doesn’t get covered enough, and that’s the relationship between information collection and data breaches.

And this is the main reason why you should care. While all of those other things might seem like far-removed issues, having your info included in a data breach is an immediate problem.

It can lead to:

• Spam
• Hacked accounts
• Stolen credit card information
• Unapproved purchases
• Identity theft

These are things you don’t want to experience.

We believe debating the merits of internet privacy from a legal standpoint, or pointing fingers when a data breach happens isn’t enough. You need to connect the dots.

This is why we spend so much time preaching the importance of protecting your privacy online. We’ve worked with so many people who’ve had to deal with these nightmarish scenarios that we see the need to be proactive and understand the landscape.

Fortunately, we think progress is starting to happen (slowly).

The Growing Public Concern About Privacy Rights

While we believe the coverage of internet privacy as a whole could be better, things are looking up in terms of public awareness.

Most of this comes from a growing level of distrust in both large companies that collect user data and the government.

On one side you have companies that have neglected to protect the data of their customers, and on the other, the government who seems to be more concerned with their own interests.

It doesn’t seem like anyone in the driver’s seat is prioritizing the internet privacy rights of the everyday consumer. The general public is starting to become more aware of this reality, and they’re getting frustrated.

Not only that but with each passing year, the demographics of people using the internet are changing as well. Younger users are more prevalent than before, and their expectations are different.

They are idealistic about the internet and are strong believers in the value it can offer. They’re also more savvy about avoiding shady practices and keeping their data safe.

When you add this group to the 45 and older crew who are growing more and more paranoid about hacks and scams (for good reason), you end up where we are now. With a growing level of concern about internet privacy.

That isn’t to say we’re going to have riots on our hands anytime soon. In fact, we would guess that the majority of the public is still mostly unaware of internet privacy and what they can do to keep themselves safe.

But that number is shrinking. Slowly but surely.

Internet Privacy Issues & Ways It Can Be Compromised

The number of potential internet privacy issues that the average user might face is staggering. Even if you’re a relatively moderate consumer of the internet with accounts on only a handful of sites, you’re still more at risk than ever before.

Here’s a rundown of the most common ways that your internet privacy could be infringed upon:

Data Brokers & People Search Websites

A lot of people are unaware that these websites even exist, and their entire purpose is to compromise your internet privacy.

Whitepages or FastPeopleSearch are two of the more popular sites, but there are dozens more. On these sites, you can enter the name of pretty much anyone and find personal info about them.

Here are just a few examples of details you can find on these websites:

• Names
• Emails
• Address history
• Phone numbers
• Education history

This is all available to anyone with an internet connection. Some have a paywall, but others offer everything for free.

Here’s why it’s a problem:

An obvious concern is that a stranger can find out where you live simply by searching your name on these sites. You’re not able to see who is searching for you, or if you’re being searched at all.

But it gets worse.

Hackers, scammers, and telemarketers all use these sites to fuel their mission of pestering the rest of society. They automatically scrape as much information as possible, and these sites don’t do anything about it.

What they do instead is scrape each other. They never want another site to have more sensitive information than they do. This means your data ends can start on one site, and end up on dozens of others within a week or two.

This makes it easier for it to be found by shady characters. The end result is more hacks, identity theft, stolen credit cards, and a bunch of annoying calls during dinner.

These sites can operate like this because they’re technically sharing information that can be found in public records. They are simply collecting this information and making it available for anyone to find.

We believe this makes a huge difference when it comes to internet privacy, but the law thinks otherwise.

Fortunately, there is something you can do about it.

These sites have to respect your internet privacy by allowing you to opt out. This means if you submit a request to have your information removed, it’s against the law for these sites to ignore it.

It can be pretty time consuming to do it all manually (especially since there are so many sites). We recommend using the new privacy protection software we launched to do it automatically instead.

Search Engines

Search engines like Google can pose a major threat to your internet privacy even if you’re careful.

The core function of a search engine is relatively harmless. It’s when you add all the fancy tech that they start getting more intrusive.

Modern search engines collect data on what you search, where you search it from, and how you interact with their search results. There’s not a whole lot you can do to stop them from doing this (other than not use their search engine).

The benefit is it helps them provide better search results to users based on the engagement they monitor. Showing the most relevant results based on your behavior and location help you find what you’re looking for, faster.

The downside is this creates a massive amount of data that could potentially be hacked. Even if you’re comfortable with the act of search engines collecting this data, from a security standpoint it’s something to think about.

No company is bulletproof when it comes to a data breach. Even Google admitted to one a few months ago.

You can maintain a little more of your internet privacy by using a VPN when searching, and not logging in to an account tied to that search engine. This still isn’t a perfect fix.

Another interesting alternative is a private search engine like DuckDuckGo. They won’t track you, which means you can search the web privately.

Instead of making money by collecting data and delivering highly targeted ads based on user behavior, they keep things simple. Ads are shown based on what the user types into the search bar, nothing more.

We think this is a neat idea because they’re leaving money on the table by taking this stance. If you’re worried about your internet privacy when it comes to search engines it might be worth giving a site like this a shot.

Social Networks

Social networking sites pose a number of challenges when it comes to maintaining internet privacy.

The nature of how they operate and monetize means they’re collecting vast amounts of data to help them deliver a highly addictive experience and more targeted ads.

Just think about the amount of data that users give Facebook. Through information like relationship status, location, and likes (this is a big one) they get an extremely accurate sense of who you are.

And the majority of this information is volunteered.

One of the main challenges when deciphering any debates around social networks is the neglect to read the terms of service. The majority of users on these platforms have no clue what’s in the terms before they sign up.

This leads to an environment where the social network is legally protected, but some users feel uncomfortable with the data that’s being taken.

Sometimes they find out after they become frequent users, and sometimes they know before signing up (and deal with it because they want to stay connected with family and friends).

Similar to search engines, sites like Facebook walk a fine line with the intention behind what they collect. On one hand, some of the data they collect can be used to deliver a better user experience. This is why people use their sites in the first place.

On the other, they are a business and they want to make money. More data leads to more revenue (just look at Facebook’s 2018 Q4 earnings).

This is where companies start to overreach and potentially encroach on their users’ internet privacy.

Not only that but when so much data is being stored the risk of a massive data breach is high. This has already happened to Facebook and it’s likely to happen again at some point.

Then there’s the human element you need to watch out for.

Social networks make it incredibly easy for individuals with harmful intent to operate with little chance of being caught. Creating a fake account is simple and easy to automate, and it’s totally possible you have one of these accounts in your network.

This means when you post personal information you could unknowingly be compromising your internet privacy. You can never be 100% sure who’s seeing what you post.

You also can’t be sure if the content you see can be trusted as well. We know that attempts have been made to try and manipulate certain groups of users on Facebook in the past (here’s a 100-page report if you feel like going down the rabbit hole).

So what can do you? Are social networks compatible with the concept of internet privacy at all?

The most obvious solution is to avoid using these sites altogether, but we understand that you may not want to do that. Pictures of your aunt’s cat aren’t going to view themselves!

Here are some quick tips to safeguard your internet privacy on social networks:

• Use the privacy settings (only share content with those you trust)
• Limit the information you provide on your profile. Supply as little as possible.
• Don’t share potentially compromising details in your feed (location, personal info, etc.)
• Be aware that there’s an element of risk simply by choosing to be on the network in the first place

One thing to be aware of when it comes to restricting your profile on social media is the impact it can have on any branding or reputation management efforts.

If you have any active campaigns going on with the intention of increasing your visibility online you’ll want to think about keeping your social media profiles public (if those efforts are more important to you than internet privacy). You can’t have it both ways so you’ll need to decide which is a higher priority.

Cookies

A cookie is a file sent from a website to your computer. This file is stored in your web browser to help websites remember information or track actions you’ve taken on the site.

A common example of this would be Amazon remembering items you had in your cart from the last time you were on their site. Another way this is often used is to remember if a user is logged in to a certain website or not.

This is why whenever you clear your cookies you end up having to sign back into a lot of your most-used accounts.

While most cookies are harmless and serve only to make your browsing experience more convenient, they can also impact your internet privacy in a number of ways. There are various forms of cookies that range from intrusive to outright malicious.

The first and most apparent way this is possible is through the tracking of your online habits from parties you can’t identify. There are certain cookies designed to track and collect as much of your online actions as possible, instead of making your web browsing experience more seamless.

There’s also a type of cookie called a “zombie” that comes back from the dead. This means that after you delete the cookie it can resurrect itself and continue tracking what you do online.

It’s complicated to explain how this is done from a technical perspective, but all you need to know is it’s a pain to deal with.

Managing your cookies is something we highly recommend doing if you value internet privacy. You can’t browse the web without picking up a few of them, and you should get rid of them periodically before they become a problem.

Here’s a good resource that will show you how to do this on most browsers and devices.

Fingerprint Software

It’s becoming extremely common for fingerprint scanning to be used as a method of security or identity verification. You can even find it on phones and laptops these days.

The benefits are it can shorten the amount of time it takes to log in to an account or unlock a device. The added layer of security is a much-lauded bonus as well.

But there might be a major downside.

If we removed all boundaries and optimized our whole online experience for convenience, things certainly would be faster and more convenient (in the short term). But that would come at the cost of almost all your internet privacy.

Fingerprint scanning software is a good example of this. While it has a number of solid short-term benefits, the potential downside is pretty scary.

You have to remember that no matter how big an organization is, they can get hacked (and likely will at some point). This goes for your fingerprint data as well.

Even if the data is only collected locally, it’s still collected somewhere. This makes it accessible to someone with the right technical chops.

And just in case you think we’re being a bit paranoid here, this has already been done.

Fingerprints can be used for a number of scams and criminal activities. The really troublesome bit is since they’re considered one of the more foolproof methods of identity verification, they’re unlikely to be questioned.

Out of all these possible issues, we believe fingerprint info lives in a world of extremes. It makes things very convenient and is less commonly found in large data breaches.

However, in the unlikely event it makes its way into the wrong hands, it could be very bad.

Pictures and Videos

This has been one of the more debated internet privacy issues over the last few years. This is due to the combination of everyone having a camera in their pocket, with the ability to quickly share their pictures online.

It takes no time at all for an unwanted image or video to spread on the internet. All it takes is for someone to share it with their followers on social media, or post it on a photo-sharing website (where it will likely get indexed by search engines).

At this point, the damage is done and you’re fighting an uphill battle.

So why is this such a common issue? You would think that there would be some legal recourse for situations like this.

Here’s where it gets tricky:

An expectation of privacy is the sticking point in these discussions. Just because someone feels that their privacy is being violated when a picture or video is taken of them, they might not have legal footing.

If you’re in a place like your home, a public restroom, or a hotel room, then you’re protected legally. But if you’re taking a walk in a public park, for example, you’re not. You can request that a video or picture not be taken of you, but there’s no legal requirement for someone to listen to you.

Another unclear but common situation is the distribution of mugshot photos online. These are technically part of public records so this is a totally legal practice.

The problem with this is that public mugshots significantly damage your professional and personal life after your arrest.

But the situation behind the mugshot is typically lost in the noise.

You could be arrested on the suspicion of illegal activity, yet released because you were completely innocent. However, your mugshot is now available for anyone to find online when they look you up.

We should also think of people who made a mistake when they were younger, served their time and wants to move forward as a law-abiding citizen. The law has said they’ve been rehabilitated by the state and can rejoin society, but their old mugshot can prevent them from fully doing this.

Right now your only option is to try various tactics to get the mugshot removed. Legally you’re out of luck.

The only kind of issue relating to photos or videos where the stance is clear is revenge porn.

Intimate photos or videos taken of someone and distributed without their content is against the law in most states (as it should be).

There’s still some progress to be made. There are a few states that don’t have revenge porn laws yet, and some of the penalties are too weak in our opinion.

But for the most part, it’s pretty straightforward.

So what does this mean for your internet privacy? In short, you need to be smart.

Even in situations where you have the law on your side, these are situations you don’t want to be in. Getting images removed from Google and the internet, in general, is a time-consuming process.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

Probably the most overlooked culprits in the internet privacy landscape are the actual internet service providers themselves.

An internet service provider does exactly what the name hints at, provides you with access to the internet. Some examples are Comcast Xfinity, AT&T, Verizon Fios, and CenturyLink.

The fact that they’re overlooked doesn’t make a lot of sense to us, because an ISP is the MOST likely to be shady. They have a history of doing what’s best for their bottom line at the expense of consumers’ internet privacy.

There also aren’t very many large ISPs out there. This poses a problem because it leaves them with a weak incentive to respect their customers.

If you want to switch your ISP there typically aren’t many to choose from in your area. Not only that but the experience of dealing with customer support when trying to switch is miserable (hello Comcast).

So most people just stick with their provider.

This led to large corporations that don’t need to worry about upsetting their customers too much.

As a result, they began testing the limits of what they could get away with.

A typical practice that compromises your internet privacy is the collecting and selling of browser history. This has been going on in some capacity for a while now, and it’s expected to get worse.

The issue is they’re the first layer of interaction when it comes to your use of the internet. This means if you value your internet privacy and want to safeguard against these practices, you’ll need to try some different tactics.

Here’s what we mean by that:

You can be extremely diligent with your use of social media and search engines, but your ISP will still be able to track your activity. This is because you need to go through them to access these sites in the first place.

The best way to get around this is by using a virtual private network (VPN for short). Doing this helps you reclaim some of your internet privacy by using a private network to hide your online activity.

We don’t want to get into the technical details, but it’s rather easy to set one up yourself. This will prevent ISPs from being able to track what you do online and sell that information to other companies.

The Nasty Stuff

In addition to the possibility that your internet privacy could be taken advantage of by massive companies, you also have to worry about individuals with bad intentions.

These concerns are far more direct. Instead of a nosey social network or data breach, these are malicious attempts to hack or steal.

Viruses and malware are one common example of this. By placing these on your computer a hacker can gain access to sensitive information that you don’t want to be shared. From there they could use it to try and gain access to any of your online accounts, or just sell it.

Some of these attempts are far less tech-savvy. Phishing and social engineering are two of the most prolific techniques in this category.

Both of these typically involve the criminal pretending to be someone they’re not in order to trick the victim into giving up access to sensitive information. These attempts will typically come via email or over the phone.

Internet privacy is under siege now more than ever. If you want to keep yourself safe you need to be aware of what scams are being attempted and maintain a healthy dose of skepticism.

What You Can Do To Protect Yourself

Now that we’ve freaked everyone out, there’s only one thing left to do:

Just kidding.

Sure, maintaining your internet privacy is more difficult than it used to be. But that doesn’t mean you’re helpless.

Far from it.

In fact, there are a handful of effective tricks you can use to keep your online experience enjoyable and more private. They’re fairly simple to implement, and most won’t cost you any money at all.

Remove Your Info From Data Brokers & People Search Sites

Earlier we covered the internet privacy issues that sites like Instant Checkmate can cause. Now it’s time to remove your info from them.

It’s very likely that sensitive information such as your home address is on dozens of sites already. The problem is it can take a while to find out what sites have your info and remove it one at a time.

That’s why we made a nifty new tool that can help.

All you need to do is head over to this page to get started. You’ll need to log in to your BrandYourself profile (or create one if needed) to find the tool.

After that things get really easy. You just head over to the new “protect private info” section and start the automatic scan. This will uncover which people search sites have your information.

Then you just need to push the big blue button to remove your data from these sites. We’ll automatically submit opt-out requests to all of these sites and monitor their progress over time.

It typically takes a couple weeks for these sites to honor the requests. The time delay is a result of them receiving so many requests on a daily basis (and because nobody likes them).

By getting your info off of these sites, your internet privacy will be much more secure.

Use A Virtual Private Network

Using a VPN is a great way to make sure your internet privacy isn’t taken advantage of by other companies.

A VPN will essentially mask your activities online because you will be accessing the web through a private network. This private network helps ensure that your actions are hidden because they will appear to come from another server.

You can also use a VPN to encrypt the data that you’re sending out. This adds another layer of security because normally you would be sending out raw data (which is easier to track).

Using a VPN isn’t free but we highly recommend it if you’re serious about your internet privacy. The cost is typically in the 5-10 dollar per month range, so not too bad.

You can use a VPN on your computer as well as your phone. So if you do a lot of browsing on your phone you’ll want to make sure it’s set up there as well.

Change Your Privacy Settings

This is one of the easiest ways to keep your internet privacy intact, but it’s often neglected.

You should take advantage of the privacy settings on any website where you engage with other users and post content. They all have them, and setting them up can help you stay protected.

There are a lot of options you can choose from depending on which sites you use. The major features to look at are who can see your posts, who can message you, and who can view your profile.

We won’t tell you what specific settings you should go with. Instead, we’ll say this:

The more private and restricted your profile is, the better.

This means if you’re unsure about what to select, defaulting to the safer option is always a good idea. The people who matter will be able to see what you post, but prying eyes won’t.

A surprising number of Facebook accounts are fake, and if you’re a regular user of the platform there’s a chance you could be friends with one of them. Being picky about who can interact with your profile (even among your friends) will go a long way in maintaining your internet privacy.

Avoid Sharing More Than Necessary

A lot of the damage that people do to their internet privacy is self-inflicted. Whether it be on social media, blogs, forums, or comment sections, sensitive information is given out willingly on a regular basis.

Fortunately, this is an easy fix.

Preventing this from happening to you is all about having the right mindset. When you’re aware of the potential downsides of sharing too much online, you’ll be less likely to do it.

Maintaining your anonymity while using the web is essential if you value your internet privacy. Leaving breadcrumbs behind means there’s a higher chance you’ll have a problem in the future.

Here are some details you definitely want to avoid sharing:

• Your name
• Location
• Occupation
• Contact info
• Family history
• Medical information
• Education
• Financial information

We could expand this list quite easily, but the items above are most easily used to identify people online (or hack them).

Never share these on publically-facing platforms where they can be seen by others. This should only be entered into legitimate websites that you can trust (and even then there’s always the chance of a data breach).

Use Private Search Engines

Private search engines are a great way to keep your internet privacy intact while still browsing the web. If you’re interested in trying this out we highly recommend DuckDuckGo. They’re the Google of private search engines.

The advantage of using a private search engine for the sake of your internet privacy is simple, they deliver the information you want without all the extra tracking.

Unlike typical search engines, personal info isn’t monitored and stored. Advertisements are delivered in the old-fashioned way of being strictly related to search terms only, and user data is never part of the equation.

We recommend that you give DuckDuckGo a try and see how you like it. It’s remarkably similar to using Google, and once you get used to a couple of the differences it’s rather seamless.

If you can get used to it, your internet privacy will be much better off.

Maintain Your Computer

This is probably the least exciting solution on the list, but it’s one of the most impactful.

Having a virus or outdated software likely means your internet privacy is at risk. It might not be fun to spend time on this, but it’s absolutely necessary.

There are a number of viruses and software exploits that allow third parties to monitor what you do on your computer. This not only violates your internet privacy but your privacy as a whole.

Even worse, there’s malware (malicious software) that can keep track of what keys you press on different websites. This makes it all too easy for your passwords to be stolen and used to access accounts you use.

So how do you prevent this?

The first thing you should do is scan your computer for any viruses. Dust off that antivirus software you never touch and put it to work!

If you don’t have any installed and want a free solution you can use Kaspersky for PC and Avast for Mac. These will help you identify any potential security issues or corrupted files on your computer.

Next, take a look at the software you have installed on your computer. Delete anything you don’t use anymore to reduce the risk of outdated software providing a backdoor into your device.

Just taking these two steps will go a long way in making sure everything is secure. Do this every couple of months at minimum to ensure it stays this way.

Is It Realistic To Expect Internet Privacy In The Future?

At this point, you should have a better understanding of internet privacy and what you can do to protect yourself right now.

But what about in the future?

There’s a lot of speculation that internet privacy issues will only continue to get worse as time goes on. The growing market for private data is showing no sign of stopping, and we’re becoming even more attached to using the web.

Even more concerning is the role the government plays in all this. Their disinterest in protecting internet privacy rights for consumers doesn’t leave many feeling optimistic.

But we think there’s still hope.

As internet privacy continues to erode, public interest in protecting their rights online is growing. This has led to various companies creating products and services designed to help.

DuckDuckGo is growing their private search engine, VPN companies are defending you from ISPs, and we’re protecting your privacy online with our personal info remover.

This combined with voters who have a better understanding of internet privacy is what we need to safeguard the future online.

It might be an uphill battle, but we believe it’s winnable.

Is it a code red emergency? Or just a small nuisance? Well, we’re going to give you everyone’s favorite answer…

It depends.

Sometimes having your email found on the dark web means you have a major problem on your hands, and sometimes it just means you have to change a couple of passwords.

But here’s the thing:

Not knowing the level of severity when it happens means you need to take it seriously regardless.

The problem is most people don’t know where to begin. They start randomly changing passwords, deleting accounts and calling their bank without rhyme or reason.

They know they should be doing something, they just aren’t sure what.

That’s why we’ve put together this quick checklist you can use if your email is found on the dark web. It keeps thing simple and will make sure your personal information stays away from prying eyes.

Should You Panic If Your Email Is Found On The Dark Web?

This is the first thing that most people wonder when their email is found on the dark web. How worried should you be about this?

Like we touched on before, it depends on the situation. But let’s take a second to explore the possibilities (and illustrate why you should take care of this ASAP).

If your email is found on the dark web there’s a chance that it’s nothing more than that, an email address that the public can see. It doesn’t mean anyone has hacked into any of your accounts, or accessed any other information.

However, there’s also the other possibility.

Having one of your emails on the dark web can kick off a chain reaction that no one wants. Hackers and scammers regularly check the dark web for accounts they can use for their nasty practices.

There are a number of methods that can be used, but the most important thing to focus on is the fact that they’ll try anything.

This means if your email is found on the dark web the likelihood that you’ll become the victim of a phishing scam goes through the roof. It also means there’s a chance someone else will gain access to some of your accounts.

It might just be an old myspace profile, but it could be your Amazon account (yikes).

This is why we say that you need to take the situation seriously if this has happened to you. Just because the sky hasn’t fallen, it doesn’t mean something awful might not happy in the near future.

With that being said, here’s what we recommend that you do (in this order):

1. Scan Your Computer

We believe that starting with a virus scan of your computer is the smartest thing to do when your email is found on the dark web. Doing this before changing any passwords is the safest possible course of action.

Why?

There is a long list of viruses that can all monitor your activity and log your keystrokes and passwords. This sort of thing has been around for a while.

If you happen to have one of these forms of malware on your computer, changing all your passwords will be a waste of time. Those will all get logged as well.

This is why it’s crucial that you do a double-check of the security on the computers you use to log in to various accounts. Even if you’re someone who stays on top of this sort of thing, all it takes is one virus to slip through the cracks.

You probably have some sort of antivirus software pre-installed on your computer already, so start with them. If you don’t, there are plenty of free options to get you started. Kaspersky for PC and Avast for Mac are two great options.

Once you’re sure that you don’t have any malware on your computer that’s responsible for your email being found on the dark web, you can continue on to the next step.

2. Step Up Your Password Game

This is the most common fix people think about when they find their email on the dark web. There’s a reason for this, it works.

Emails found on the dark web are far more likely to be the victim of phishing scams and hacks. These are far more likely to be successful when passwords haven’t been changed, or if the same password is used for all accounts.

**Quick tip** – If you want to create a password that’s as secure as possible it should have the following traits:

• Be lengthy. 12-15 characters is a good target
• Avoid using real words
• Combine uppercase and lowercase letters
• Add numbers and symbols

First, you should deal with the email in question. You’ll want to change the password you use to access it and consider setting up two-factor authentication (more on that later). This is often the first place attacks start when an email is found on the dark web, so it makes sense to protect it first.

Then you’ll want to work your way down the line of any websites or accounts tied to this email address. Each of these will require a new password too.

If you want to play things super safe you can create a separate password for each profile you have. This will require you to use a password manager like 1Password or LastPass (unless you have a freakishly good memory).

If you’d rather not go that route, we recommend coming up with two or three passwords that you can remember on your own and spread those across your various accounts and profiles. Then replace them every few months.

3. Make A Garbage Email

During this stage, you might want to consider creating another email account that can be used for unimportant profiles. So many sites require a sign-up process these days, and having them tied to your main email account isn’t ideal.

The reason for this is if there’s a data breach on one of these unimportant websites, your primary email won’t be found on the dark web. It’s way better to have a burner email floating around than the account you use for banking and other important tasks.

Another advantage of this is it will save you time in the long run. If this garbage account is truly tied to websites and profiles you don’t care much about, you can always just scrap it and move on. You won’t need to spend a ton of time going through each site and updating all passwords.

It might seem like a pain to have multiple email accounts, but it’s really not that much extra effort. It only takes a minute to create a new one, and the additional security it provides makes the time spent a no-brainer.

Some people even run with three email accounts to protect their most important information even further.

This will typically look like one primary account for business and banking, another for personal correspondence and important accounts (like Amazon or Facebook), and a junk account as a catch-all for what’s left.

This means that your most important accounts are further protected from a breach and if one of these emails is found on the dark web, there’s less damage control you’ll have to do afterword.

4. Check On Your Financial Accounts

A Brief Panic Squelcher: This is rarely an issue for people with emails found on the dark web, but it’s smart to go through this process anyway.

At this point, you should’ve already updated the passwords tied to any banking websites you use (and ideally set up two-factor authentication).

Now it’s time to take a closer look at your accounts.

Make sure no money is missing and no strange activity appears to have occurred. If you notice something, get in touch with your bank.

If everything looks fine, check back in a week or two and verify. Then do the same thing a week or two after that. Sometimes hackers will wait a while before they try to sneak in a purchase or two.

If you want to check on your financial accounts but don’t feel comfortable using your computer yet (maybe you found a virus that hasn’t been cleared out yet), you’ll want to be careful accessing your account.

Assuming you have a smartphone with a data plan you can use that to access your accounts with little risk. Disconnect your phone from your wifi network and use your data plan to access your accounts. Doing this won’t use much data and will prevent you from potentially using a compromised wifi connection.

5. Practice Smart Transaction Habits Going Forward

You should be doing this in general, but having your email found on the dark web means it’s time to be extra diligent.

Only make purchases on websites that are trustworthy and reliable. While there’s no foolproof site or company to buy from online, but doing this will help reduce risk significantly.

Websites that don’t have “HTTPS” at the beginning of their URL should be ignored immediately (you can check this by looking at the address bar in your browser). It doesn’t if they have the coolest jeans in the world on their site, it’s simply not safe.

If you do this you’ll be far more likely to have your information protected when you make purchases online, and the chance of your email showing up on the dark web will decrease significantly.

6. Try Two-Factor Authentication

If your email has been found on the dark web it’s probably a smart idea for you to use two-factor authentication for your most important accounts. Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security and makes it significantly harder for a hacker to gain access.

Here’s how it works:

Usually, you enter your email address and password to log in to an account online. That’s all it takes.

With two-factor authentication, you add one very important step to the process. After you submit your standard information you’ll need to verify the login attempt. This is typically done by receiving a text message with a random code you’ll need to enter to access your account.

This prevents a third party from gaining access to your accounts, even if they have your email and password.

You’d be surprised how many websites can be tricked into giving out access to your account to someone even if they only have your email address. This is why it’s important to do all of the recommended steps if your email is found on the dark web.

7. Opt Out From Data Brokers And People Search Sites

This is one method that gets overlooked far too often, and it’s a huge shame.

Because this is probably one of the most common reasons why people end up finding their emails on the dark web.

Data brokers and people search sites like Whitepages and FastPeopleSearch exist solely for the purpose or sharing your info (like your email).

These sites then get scraped by spammers and hackers to build massive databases of info they can abuse.

This means you need to get your info off of them ASAP.

You can do this by manually opting out of each site (which will take a little time) or by doing it automatically. These sites legally have to honor your request for removal, so it’s only a matter of submitting them.

No matter which method you go with, you should get started as quickly as you can. The sooner your sensitive information is off the web for anyone to look up, the sooner you can relax.

What’s Next?

If you’ve followed the steps above, then you’re in pretty good shape right now. You’re way more secure than you were before, and the chance of another email being found on the dark web is much lower as well.

But here’s what you have to remember:

All it takes for you to end up in this mess again is getting lazy with your passwords or purchase from an unsecured site. You could be doing everything 95% correct, and still end up with another email on the dark web for everyone to see.

So take your use of the internet seriously.

As much as it would be great to not have to worry about hackers and spammers, they aren’t going anywhere. So make these steps and habits second nature when you’re online.

If you do, you’ll be alright.

Completing the FastPeopleSearch.com opt out and removal procedure is something we highly encourage you to do.

As one of the most popular people search websites around, FastPeopleSearch shares a boatload of personal information on a daily basis.

Here’s an example of what things they share on the site:

• Names
• Current and past addresses
• Email addresses
• Family information
• Phone numbers (of you and your family)

This means if your privacy is important to you, removing yourself from the site is an absolute must.

Not only is the kind of information they share on the site a problem, but the way they share it is too. FastPeopleSearch.com gives away most of this information for free.

This is a problem because a decent number of other people search sites hide the bulk of their data behind a paywall. While they’re just doing it to make money, it also lowers the number of people who might access your info.

Completing the FastPeopleSearch opt out steps is crucial because they don’t follow this business model. Anyone with an internet connection can visit their site and look up your info.

This means spammers and data scrapers who are casting a wide net can easily collect information about you and do whatever they want with it. Now you can see why this is a problem.

Before we jump into your FastPeopleSearch removal and opt out choices we should clear up a couple things first. These fundamental misunderstandings about how sites like this operate end up costing many people time and money.

Is This Business Model Illegal?

Due to the scammy nature of sites like FastPeopleSearch many wonder if it’s legal to operate this way. Collecting private information about other people and sharing it with everyone seems like it should be a crime, and we agree with with that position completely.

Unfortunately, the law says otherwise.

All data broker sites like this are operating well within the law. This might seem unfair and quite frustrating, but let’s explore why.

Sites like FastPeopleSearch.com aren’t breaking into your office drawer and adding your info to their database. They are finding everything they share on public records.

Whether you realize it or not, there are public records available on all of us. If you go down to your local records office you can request to see them on pretty much anyone.

This has been the way things operated for years and years (way before the internet). The big difference was that back in the day the amount of information you could conveniently access was limited.

Not only that, but private info wasn’t as valuable as it is now. Now it’s a billion dollar industry. Back then it wasn’t an industry at all.

So as far as the law is concerned, FastPeopleSearch can access these public records and share them on their site. It’s information that was technically available to the public before they got their hands on it.

This means you have to go through the FastPeopleSearch opt out steps if you want to stop them from sharing your information. Taking a legal angle won’t do anything but waste your time and money.

How It Spreads From FastPeopleSearch To Other Websites

The real issue about this whole situation is quickly your data can spread from one site to another.

It would be frustrating but manageable if FastPeopleSearch got hold of your information, and that was the end of it. That way you could complete the removal steps and move on.

But it’s not that simple.

You see, there are dozens of massively popular sites just like FastPeopleSearch who all share the data of individuals just like you. The amount of information that can be found on their site is their highest priority.

So what do they do when a competing site has info they don’t? They scrape their competitor and add the new information to their site as well.

This means if FastPeopleSearch has your info, it’s going to be on dozens of other sites in a matter of weeks.

That’s a massive problem if you’re looking to protect your privacy.

What’s The Point?

This is another common question we get. Why do sites like FastPeopleSearch do this in the first place? Are they simply holding a competition to see who can annoy the most people?

It’s actually rather simple. As we mentioned before, private data is a billion dollar industry. People finder sites like FastPeopleSearch.com are just going after their small piece of the pie.

Now don’t get us wrong, these sites aren’t the reason why private info is such a massive industry (look at Facebook and Google for that). They are actually the “D-list” players in the space.

But that doesn’t mean they’re going to stop anytime soon.

By drawing people to their site who want to look up info they can sell more premium packages or simply monetize with ads. Each site has their own strategy, but the formula is the same.

The more data they have, the more money they make.

Who Uses These Sites?

Most of the time the people visiting sites like FastPeopleSearch don’t mean any harm. They simply want to look up an old classmate or a long lost family member.

The problem comes from the other group.

These are the spammers and hackers who want as much private info as possible in order to increase the likelihood that they can trick people out of some money.

Unfortunately this group is rather large, and while they are the minority they still do a ton of damage. These are the people who make it necessary to complete the FastPeopleSearch opt out steps to protect your information.

What’s more frustrating is that FastPeopleSearch and all competing sites knows that this is happening. But they spend most of their time either trying to grow their database, or prevent people from opting out.

The crazy thing is if they were able to make their sites less spam-friendly, the number of people wanting a complete removal would fall significantly.

Luckily, You Have An Edge

Despite all the massive pain FastPeopleSearch puts you through and their resistance to dealing with people abusing their site, you have an edge.

And it’s a big one.

FastPeopleSearch and all sites like it have to honor your opt out or removal request. It’s illegal if they don’t.

This means when you finish going through the FastPeopleSearch opt out process they can’t just ignore you and continue to share your information. A lot of people think that’s what happens if they ask to be removed from the site, but it isn’t.

This means all you have to do is go through the opt out procedure correctly and you’re in the clear.

Sure, you’ll have to do the same thing with all the other sites who have your info as well (unless you use our new feature). But they have to honor your request as well.

So let’s get started.

The Automatic FastPeopleSearch Opt Out Process (Faster)

The easiest and fastest way to opt out from FastPeopleSearch is by using the new feature we just released.

It will remove your info from their site with the click of a button, and it’ll do the same for 20+ other sites as well.

Here are the major benefits of this method:

• You’ll save a ton of time by not having to go through the manual opt out process for all these sites (it will take hours to do them all yourself)
• You don’t need to worry about navigating any tricky removal steps yourself. Some are intentionally difficult to navigate
• Monitoring the status of your opt out requests can be done right from the dashboard, instead of having to look yourself up every week or two

If this method sounds like your cup of tea, here’s all you’ll have to do:

Step 1: Go to your BrandYourself account

We’ve made the choice to add this new feature to all existing BrandYourself accounts. This means if you want to automatically complete the FastPeopleSearch opt out process you’ll need to log in to your account.

If you don’t have an account yet you can make one here.

Step 2: Navigate to the brand new “private info” section in your dashboard

We’ve created a new section within the product to serve as the home of our automatic removal tool. You can locate it by looking on the left hand side of your screen.

Click it to move on to step 3 (this is where things get exciting).

Step 3: Begin the automatic FastPeopleSearch opt out process

Once you’re here all you need to do is click the blue button to start the process. Our software will take the lead!

Keep in mind that a FastPeopleSearch opt out request will take a few weeks for them to honor. This is simply due to the fact that they receive a lot each day, so there is a delay even though the request has been sent. This is completely normal and it doesn’t mean they are ignoring your request.

If you want to check on the status you can always visit the dashboard to see where things stand.

The Manual Removal Steps (Slower)

If you would rather handle the FastPeopleSearch opt out steps on your own you should know a few things first:

• It’s going to take longer
• If you want to manually remove yourself from all the other sites that have your info as well, your twenty minute task just turned into a few hours
• Keeping tabs on the status of your removal request will require you to look yourself up a lot, and you’ll need to be organized about what sites you check and when

If that’s no biggie, here’s the manual FastPeopleSearch opt out process:

Step 1: Go to this page to initiate the opt out process.

Click the terms of service, solve the reCAPTCHA and click “Begin Removal Process”

Step 2: Conduct a search using your name, city and state.

There are often many listings that look very similar. Take some time to distinguish between each of them.

Step 3: Click on your record.

If multiple records exist for your name, click on the record that most closely matches your info – e.g. middle initial, previous city.

Step 4: Click on “Remove My Record”

You can find this button at the top of the page in red.

Step 5: Removal confirmation

You should see a page that displays a removal confirmation. It might be sandwiched between ads like in screenshot we’ve shared.

Here’s What To Do Next

If you’ve done the automatic FastPeopleSearch opt out and removal process, you don’t need to read this section.

You’re all set.

However if you went with the manual way the work isn’t over. There are likely dozens of other sites that are sharing your information in the same way FastPeopleSearch did.

You’ll need to opt out of those as well.

To find these sites we suggest conducting a Google search for your name to find the most important ones first. The main offenders like Whitepages will likely show up in your search results if they have your info.

Make a list of all the sites you can find and start removing yourself from them one by one. It might be tedious, but it’s the best way to keep your info safe.

Remember, they have to honor your request. Chip away at it your list whenever you have time, and you’ll be well on your way to being more secure and protected online.

This is because it’s easier than ever for hackers and scammers to get hold of personal information if the right security isn’t in place.

Defending yourself isn’t very challenging or time consuming either. It’s actually rather simple.

So why does so much personal information get exposed?

It’s common for the public to place all the blame on the companies and websites getting hacked. They have plenty of resources, they should be able to handle security right?

Well we think that’s a bad mindset to have (and frankly a little naive). You need to be accountable for your personal information.

It is yours after all.

Yes, Marriott and Equifax should take responsibility for sloppy security measures when their data gets exposed. We’re not passing the buck here.

But you need to be realistic.

Companies and websites are going to continue getting hacked. That’s not going anywhere.

And that’s just half of the story:

More and more businesses are viewing your personal information as a commodity that can be bought and sold. They sell it to advertisers or other businesses for the sake of marketing their products and services more effectively.

This means when you submit your info to one site it’s easier than ever for it to end up somewhere else. That’s a scary concept if you’re concerned about keeping your information safe.

Because of this, we wanted to put together this simple resource to help navigate the waters. It’ll lay out everything you need to know about personal information and what needs to be done to keep yours safe.

Let’s get started.

What Is Personal Information?

Personal information is any piece of info that can be used to identify you.

This is a rather broad definition, so let’s break it down with some examples.

The standard identifying info: The most common pieces of personal information belong in this category. Examples here would be your name, age, birthday, address, phone number and gender. Ethnicity focused personal information would fall in this category as well.

IDs: Your social security number, credit and debit card numbers, and PIN numbers are common targets.

Health information: Medical and health records, disabilities, family health history, and prescriptions are commonly found examples. There’s much more that can be found regarding your health depending on the source.

Finance: Personal information in this category that’s often pulled into third party databases are your income, loan history, credit data, and lists of transactions.

Employment: Employment history is another example of personal information that exists for almost everyone. This can vary from your complete work history to smaller details like references and reviews.

Criminal history: This is personal information that can be very damaging to someone’s reputation if exposed. Charges and convictions are the most commonly found kind of info in this category (and also the most damaging).

Education background: It’s not uncommon for education history to be floating around on the web as well. This will commonly be an overview of where you went to school and what degree you earned, but in some cases it can get more detailed.

As you can see, there’s a LOT of personal information that can be targeted or used by third parties. This is just summary too, there’s much more if you want to get picky about it.

So what does this mean?

It means unless you’ve been living off the grid and getting paid strictly in cash, you have personal information that could potentially get exposed in the future.

If you want to be smart about keeping your personal information safe and secure, there are some steps you have to take. The good thing is it’s not very complicated!

Why You Need To Keep It Safe

Your personal information should be treated like gold these days. It can be used in a number of ways that can cause a lot of damage to your life.

As we hinted to earlier, there’s no shortage of hacks and data breaches going around. Not only has this been the trend up to this point, but it’s going to continue (and likely get worse).

This is the cost of living in the information age. With such a premium being placed on personal information, there are plenty of unsavory individuals who will do whatever it takes to acquire access to it.

Now you might think that as security gets better, the frequency of these breaches should decrease right?

Wrong.

As security gets better, so does the technical prowess of hackers and spammers. It’s a constant battle between the two sides to gain an edge and it’s unlikely that it’s going to slow down.

But it’s not just criminals who want to take advantage of your personal information. Companies like Facebook and Google want as much of your personal information as possible.

And it’s not out of the goodness of their heart. They will pitch it as a way to create a better, more personalized user experience. If you watch any keynote speech from these massive companies you’ll hear this phrase thrown around a ton.

This narrative is an attempt to control the narrative and maintain a positive public perception of what they do (and it probably fuels their ego a little bit too).

But here’s what’s happening:

They’re taking your personal information and using it to make money. Plain and simple.

Sometimes it’s done by selling it to advertisers or giving them more effective ways of targeting their ads. Other times it’s done for the sake of keeping their users on their site longer, so they can sell more ads.

If your personal information didn’t make them money, they wouldn’t want it.

This is how things can get out of hand. Businesses want more of your info and more revenue. When this is the primary objective, your security stops being a priority.

That leads us to more hacks, more breaches, and more privacy violations.

So What Can You Do About It?

Fortunately, there are some rather simple tactics you can use to keep your personal information out of the public eye.

Get Off Any Personal Information Aggregators

Personal information aggregators (or “data brokers”) are sites that collect and share your info as a service to their visitors. You might hear these be referred to as people search websites, and Whitepages or True People Search are two popular examples.

These sites search the web and public records looking for your personal information that they can add to their databases. They’re constantly looking for more, and many of them get quite a lot of traffic.

This means that anyone with an internet connection can visit one of these sites and look up your personal information. Commonly you can find names, addresses, family history, and email addresses on these sites.

Kind of spooky right?

In order to keep your personal information safe and remove yourself from these sites you have two options. You can either opt out from each of them individually (your info is likely on dozens of sites) or you can automate the process with tools instead.

No matter what you choose to do, it’s important that you get off these sites. They exist solely for sharing personal information and you will always be at risk as long as you can be found on them.

Be Smart With Social Media

A large amount of personal information that gets exposed is provided directly by the victim on social media.

Fortunately this is a pretty easy thing to avoid doing.

First of all make sure to never post any personal information at any cost. Even though you might think you can trust your network, you’re more vulnerable than you think. You could be friends with or followed by a fake account, or someone in your network could get hacked.

This happens all the time. As long as you keep your feed free of info that could identify or be used against you, you’re going to be a lot safer. Also don’t give away too much in the “bio” or “about me” section of your profile. The less you share, the better.

But don’t stop there.

Get familiar with the privacy settings on whatever social networks you use. Create custom lists of what people can view certain posts, or just set everything to private.

Doing this will drastically cut down on the number of prying eyes that might be looking for your personal information.

Use Multiple Email Addresses

Another quick way to bring a little more security to your personal information is by using multiple email addresses for your various online accounts. Emails are usually the first kind of personal info to get exposed in a data breach, so not tying everything to one account is smart.

A common setup that works well is to have one email account that is tied to any of your most important profiles and duties you do online. This could be for your banking and financial services, or business as well.

Then another email account for personal use (sending e-cards to grandma or social media) to diversify things a little bit. Some people will even have an email account they dedicate entirely to dealing with spam or infrequent signups they have to go through.

By keeping your most important account tied only to the most reputable and reliable sources, it’s far less likely that it will end up being compromised.

Become A Password Master

Choosing strong passwords is another easy way to keep your personal information safe online.

A surprising number of people choose downright terrible passwords for the sake of simplicity, without realizing it’s making them significantly easier to hack.

There’s a reason why a lot of important websites recommend that you choose a lengthy mixture of letters, numbers, and symbols when creating your password. They aren’t suggesting it just to annoy you.

There are a number of tools that help you manage various passwords, but we honestly don’t like the idea of using them. That means your passwords are only as safe as the tool you use.

Instead, choose a couple difficult passwords and change them every month or two. This will make it easy for you to memorize them, but also keep you safe. It might seem like a pain to do this, but your personal information is worth it.

Safely Get Rid Of Old Devices

Your old electronic devices are full of personal information until you take the proper steps to remove it.

Too often people will either sell or scrap their old phones or computers without taking this step, and it comes back to bite them. If you’re not doing a full factory reset and wiping all hard drives you’re at risk.

If you’re not selling the your old device and want to be extra safe, get out a hammer or drill and go to town. You should still wipe it first, but smashing your old hard drive into a million pieces is an effective guarantee that no one will be able to use it.

Only Purchase From Reputable Website And Companies

If you’re going to be making any purchases online (which is a near certainty these days) you should pay attention to the site you’re on. If you’re buying some Scandinavian mitten warmers from Amazon you’re going to be fine. But if you find yourself shopping around for essential oils on the site your cousins sister-in-law threw together, you might want to think again.

The first and easiest thing to check for is if the site is “HTTPS” instead of “HTTP.” You can find this by looking at the address bar in your browser. It will be on the far left of the URL.

This isn’t foolproof, but it does mean there’s extra encryption and security on the site you’re shopping on. If the site isn’t HTTPS, don’t make the purchase.

Use Two Factor Authentication

Two factor authentication is a way to safeguard against unwanted actions online. Typically this will be used during the login process.

What happens when you use two factor authentication is you’ll enter your standard login details to start. But instead of the process ending there, you’ll then receive a code (usually via text message) that you have to enter before you can log in.

This prevents anyone who might have your login information from being able to access your account. Not only that, but since you’ll receive a code notification that you didn’t request you’ll be aware of this. That means you can take the necessary steps by changing your password and making sure other personal information wasn’t accessed.

Cut Down On The Number Of Accounts You Have

This might seem obvious but it works like a charm. Having fewer accounts and websites that you submit your personal information to lowers the chance of your personal information being exposed in some sort of data breach.

If you’ve already created a bunch of accounts it’s not too late to do some spring cleaning. What we recommend doing is deleting your account and submitting a GDPR request for the website to get rid of any information you’ve submitted. They legally have to comply so all you need to do is send an email.

Most of us have a long list of sites we’ve signed up to, but never use. If you can cut those out of the picture your personal information is going to be a lot better off.

Going Forward

Your personal information is something you should never undervalue. In this day and age the likelihood of someone attempting to capitalize on your personal information at your expense is high.

Having an understanding of the landscape and how you can stay safe will make a huge difference. You should always try to look at the web through this lens.

Getting lazy or letting your guard down is a quick way to have your address and phone number searchable by anyone online. But if you follow the steps we recommended you’ll be far less likely to have anything happen to you.

If you’re in this camp and want to know how to delete yourself from the internet, there’s something you need to be aware of first:

There’s no guaranteed way to completely delete yourself from the internet forever (no matter what you do).

There’s always a chance that something will pop up that you’ll need to deal with, or there might be some information that’s extremely difficult to delete.

But here’s the good news:

You can get pretty darn close.

As a matter of fact, deleting yourself from the internet is now more doable than ever. We know what works and what methods to focus on more than we did a few years ago.

It’s Time To Choose Your Own Adventure

There are two options you can take when it comes to deleting yourself from the internet.

Option 1: Use our tools and software to automate the process and save you a ton of time. This will also bring you the best results without you having to learn everything yourself.

Option 2: Roll up your sleeves and do it yourself. This will require you to put in hours of learning and implementing various tactics to help delete yourself (it’s just the reality of the situation).

That might seem like an obvious choice, but we want to lay out both options for you. The main reason is there are a couple features we offer that cost money, so if you want to do go all-out you’ll likely have to swipe a credit card at some point.

So here’s what we recommend that you do:

If you’re already sold on Option 1 and don’t want the headache of having to do everything yourself, head over to this page and get started.

However, if you’re dead set on doing everything yourself we still recommend you at least sign up for a free account.

There are free features you can use that will still save you some time during the process of manually deleting yourself from the internet. Trust us, you’ll want all the help you can get.

Here’s the magic link where you can sign up.

Once You’ve Done That…

If you’re planning on using our software to handle everything for you, you don’t need to read any more of this post if you don’t want to.

It has useful information about how to delete yourself from the internet, but since our tools are doing the heavy lifting you can go back to Netflix if you want.

But if you’re doing everything on your own…

Study the heck out of this post (and all the linked resources too).

You likely have a lot of catching up to do, and you’re going to want to understand this as thoroughly as possible.

This might seem slightly bleak but we want to be realistic. Learn how to delete yourself from the internet takes time, there’s no way around it.

But once you learn, you’ll be able to massively impact the amount of info that can be found about you on the web.

How Your Info Travels Online

One of the most commonly misunderstandings about the process of deleting yourself from the internet is that you only have to worry about one or two websites sharing your info.

Unfortunately, this is not the case at all. If info such as your name or address is on one site, there is a very strong chance that it’s on a handful of others as well.

To make things even more difficult it’s not always the same sites you have to look out for. There are definitely some that come up more often than others, but there’s no way of knowing for sure until you take a look yourself.

The reason for this comes from a simple principle that manifests itself in various technological practices.

Well what the heck does that mean? We promise we didn’t write it just to sound smart and fancy.

More and more over the last 10 years websites in all industries have invested and committed to the idea of content as a source of growth. This could mean blog posts, videos, or even your personal details.

As a result, the amount of content websites are expected to produce has increased exponentially. In order to keep up with this demand many have started to implement various types of software to help them achieve their goals.

So how does this relate to your info?

Sites that aggregate and share this info lean more heavily on these technological practices than almost any other kinds of content-based businesses right now. It would be impossible for them to find all this data manually, so they have software do it for them.

This means if you want to learn how to delete yourself from the internet you need to be aware of these sites and how they feed off one another.

The most common way these “people search websites” get your data in the first place is from public records. Public records have been accessible to anyone for quite some time, except you used to have to visit a records office to view them.

These days, databases that collect your information will compile as much as they can from public records and share it online.

But that’s just the start.

There are hundreds of these sites out there. Instead of starting from scratch and searching public records all over again, other sites will simply scrape this info from competitors and add it to their own database.

When you have so many popular sites that share the details, you can see how this would get out of hand quickly. To make matters worse, the opt out process for these can be very time consuming when you add them all up.

If your details aren’t found on a run-of-the-mill “people search” site then that will change your strategy a little bit. This is when tactics like outreach, suppression, and removal requests will be used more heavily. We’ll get into that a little more later on.

In order to delete yourself from the internet you need to be comfortable with these basics at the very least. There are many other ways that your info can get passed around online, and we will address more of them a bit further down.

If You’re On A Directory Or Database

If you’re trying to delete yourself from the internet and your main concern is with a database like Whitepages, you are actually fairly lucky.

While dealing with these sites can be extremely tedious at times, it’s actually very simple to delete everything off of them. Legally they have to acknowledge your request to opt out, so all it takes is for you to follow the steps correctly.

The exact deletion process for each of these sites is slightly different, but similar in principle. Typically what you will do is find the page that has your info first, then using that to complete the process of getting your info off their site.

If you have trouble with a certain site you can always contact them directly and have them help you. If you don’t hear anything back after a few days feel free to get in touch with us instead and we’ll give you a hand.

In order to be absolutely sure that everything has been deleted from these kinds of sites you’ll want to spend some time scouring the web for any you might have missed.

The easiest way to do this is with a combo of running a scan through our software, and searching your name in Google.

Our software will not only help you delete yourself from the internet by scouring your search results for possible mentions of your name, but it also has a separate section completely dedicated to scanning these kinds of sites.

It also can help walk you through the process of suppression which is yet another way of protecting info like your name or address (we’ll get into that later).

You should also spend a few minutes conducting a Google search to look for anything else you might want to get rid of. This is a great way to cover your bases and double check that our software didn’t miss anything.

With so many new sites being created each day that aggregate and share your info, it’s entirely possible for one or two to slip through the cracks. You never want to bank on just one method of identifying details you’re not comfortable with other people seeing.

If It’s Found Somewhere Else

This is where things can get a lot more complicated. With the kind of sites we mentioned above, they HAVE to fulfill your request to get your data off of their site.

However, there are so many other ways that sensitive details you don’t want seen can be shared and found online. Some common possibilities here are:

• News sites
• Private blogs
• Videos
• Private forums

Unfortunately in these situations you don’t have the luxury of simply clicking a few buttons and deleting yourself from the internet. The most successful strategy can vary on a case-by-case basis.

This is based on factors such as the volatility of the source, its position in search results, the nature of the content, and more. You’ll need to exercise some good judgment when deciding what path you want to take.

The nice thing is that you really only have two main options and when you use both together, it’s extremely effective.

Let’s break down the two options you have and how to utilize them in the most effective way possible. Understanding these will give you the knowledge you need to make a decision on how best to proceed for your specific situation.

Option One: Reaching Out

This is the most direct way to accomplish your goal, but it’s also not nearly as simple as it might seem. In fact, many people make the mistake of jumping into this option without thinking about the potential downsides.

Although you might think that the worst case scenario is simply a “no” from whoever published it in the first place, it’s quite common for that to actually make matters worse.

If someone has posted your details out of spite this could rile them up even more and encourage them to take it to the next level. Publishing even more on other sites (or on the original source) is common, but you would be surprised at how creative people can get.

We’ve heard from people who needed to do ten times the work minimizing damage after a failed outreach attempt. If you aren’t confident in your ability to get a positive response it’s best to move on to option two.

However, if you think your target will be receptive you want to do it tactfully. This tactic is one of the fastest ways to delete yourself from the internet, so you don’t want to blow it.

The first thing to do is come up with the pitch you’ll use. This might seem obvious, but you want to plan and communicate it clearly to have the best chance of getting a favorable response.

If it’s something like a credit card or Social Security number that the webmaster was simply unaware of you’ll likely have a good chance of getting it removed. That’s because the legality of posting this information is not in question.

Other kinds of details like a name or even an address might not be met with the same sense of urgency.

Another thing that you have to be aware of when reaching out is a potential lack of response. Many websites don’t have up-to-date contact information or simply never check their generic “contact us” email address.

Regardless, you should still do everything you can to contact and make your case. Give them a week or two and then follow up. You can also try finding their social media accounts as well.

Tip: You can use a tool like Hunter to try and uncover email addresses linked to the site in question. This will sometimes turn up better options than a standard contact email.

A Preface To Option Two

As you can see, the situations where you would use and find success with option one can vary significantly. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. There’s really no way to be sure before you try.

With this being the case, it makes sense to have another option at your disposal. Option two is all about utilizing suppression to your advantage to make sure private data and info stays unseen.

Doing this well means you’ll be able to keep everything far more secure, even if it doesn’t end up being completely deleted from the web. If no one can find it, it’s almost as good as not being there at all.

To make sure you’re completely protected online a combination of option one and two can be extremely powerful. This is why we are big advocates for option two even if you have a good chance of getting things deleted directly.

Option Two: Suppression

The reason why we love this option for almost anyone who wants to delete themselves from the internet is simple, it allows you to take matters into your own hands.

No matter what kind of info you’re concerned about or what type of site it can be found on, you can implement a suppression campaign regardless. This works especially well for situations where you have multiple sites you’re concerned about or if someone is trying to harm you by sharing details about you online.

This can work well to combat sites like Spokeo as we mentioned earlier or even false claims on Ripoff Report. It’s extremely versatile and will open up a lot of options.

This is how it works:

The vast majority data that’s found on online is done so through search engines, with Google being the dominant one. If you want to prevent other people from easily finding it then you need to control what they see when they look you up online.

It might sound a little far-fetched at first, but it’s actually relatively simple as long as you know what to do. As a matter of fact businesses use these techniques all the time to help potential customers find their content online.

In order to accomplish this you’ll need to create a handful of web properties that you can optimize to rank for your name. This means signing up for the major social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Google plus.

It would also be extremely beneficial if you registered your own personal domain name and set up a website.

To some this might seem like a way to share more information about them, not less. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

You can share as much or as little information on these web properties as you want. Heck, you could even make up a fictional person with the same name as you.

All that matters is you optimize and interlink them together, sending clear signals to Google and helping you rank for your name. If you want to truly understand how to delete yourself from the internet, you NEED to be using this tactic.

If you want to learn all the details about suppression and controlling your results online, read our online reputation management guide. This covers everything you need to get started with a strong suppression campaign.

Where You Go From Here

This might seem like quite the undertaking. We totally understand, it’s quite a lot to take in.

If you’re set on handling everything yourself, the most important thing is to do something each day.

There’s some aspect of waiting with everything we mentioned in this post. You’ll either be:

• Waiting for a people search site to honor your deletion request
• Standing by to see if a webmaster gets back to you
• Giving Google some time to update their search results to show new content or profiles you’ve created

This means that the sooner you get the ball rolling the better. Take the early steps and get as much of the waiting behind you as possible.

Deleting yourself from the internet doesn’t require skill as much as it requires consistency. Now get started!

One of the first things we recommend for anyone looking to protect their personal information online is to go through the True People Search removal process.

There are a number of reasons for this.

You see, there are a lot of sites that exist solely to share info about as many people as possible. This isn’t a groundbreaking or new business model.

But True People Search stands out.

Here’s why:

• They share a vast amount of personal info that can be used for harmful purposes
• It’s totally free (this is a big one)
• They have gained a decent amount of popularity that doesn’t seem to be fading

A lot of other people search websites charge money for their services at some point. This means at least some of the information is hidden behind a paywall.

This still doesn’t means your info is safe, but it does raise the barrier of entry a bit. When sites like True People Search make everything available for free, the only thing a scammer needs to access your info is an internet connection.

This combined with the fact that they have a decent user base means you have to take them seriously, and opting out or completing the True People Search removal steps is the only way to do it.

Before we get into the individual steps (or how you can automate the process with our software) we highly recommend that you learn a little about the site and how they operate. This knowledge will help you better protect your information in the long run.

What Is True People Search?

A lot of people find out that their information is on this website, but don’t really understand what they are.

As we briefly mentioned before, TruePeopleSearch.com is a website that’s sole function is to share personal information with other people.

They find this information by scraping public records and other people search sites like Whitepages.

Here’s a list of the kind of stuff they share:

• Address histories
• Phone numbers
• Lists of relatives
• Lists of associates
• Email addresses

Not good.

Is True People Search A Scam? Is This Legal?

These are two of the most common questions that get thrown our way when we speak to people interested in going through the True People Search removal steps.

While we aren’t a fan of what they do, their practices are completely legal.

The way the law sees it, True People Search is simply taking publicly accessible information and aggregating it on their site.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that there are public records available for every single one of us. There might be more information available on some than others, but there are records on everyone.

You’ve been able to go down to your local records office and find this sort of information for years. It’s nothing new.

Here’s where it became a problem:

When sites like True People Search compiled all this info and made it available to anyone online, it changed the game.

Instead of one person with bad intentions having to drive down to an office and go after a single individual, they can go after millions from the comfort of their own home.

So let’s summarize it this way:

True People Search isn’t a scam, but they do enable scammers.

They’re not breaking the law, but they make it easier for others to do so.

They aren’t the good guys in this situation (not by a long shot) but spending your time going after them legally is a dead end. Unfortunately we see people make this mistake time and time again.

The best thing you can do is secure a full True People Search removal, and opt out from their site.

An Issue To Be Aware Of

If your information is on True People Search there is a 100% chance it’s on other sites as well.

There are hundreds of sites like this and they all scrape each other for additional information. This means if Site A has your info, Site B will likely find it as well (even if they didn’t have access to your records).

This is something a lot of people don’t understand, and that causes them to let their guard down when the job isn’t finished.

Removing your info from True People Search is a massive step in the right direction. However you should be aware of the other sites that have your information as well.

They might not be as popular as True People Search or hide most of their information behind a paywall, but you should still opt out of them.

It’s a massive pain having to keep track of this (unless you use our new tool) but it’s the reality if you want to achieve privacy in the modern age.

What’s The Point?

Why do sites like True People Search do this in the first place? What’s in it for them?

First of all, the whole point of having a massive database of information is to draw visitors to their site. People want to look up the information of others for a number of reasons.

A quick side note: Most of the people who use sites like this aren’t being malicious. They’re just looking up an old friend or something along those lines. It’s the nasty few who want to exploit that personal info who ruin it for everyone.

So once True People Search has a consistent group of visitors coming to their site on a monthly basis, it’s time to monetize.

There are a number of ways that people finder sites make money. Some of the common ones are:

• Charging for information scans
• Displaying ads on the site
• Partnership or affiliate agreements

From what we can tell, True People Search makes their money by showing ads and affiliate agreements with other people search sites.

As you browse any of their listings you’ll see that there’s at least one or two ads on each page. This might not seem like much but it adds up over time.

If you click the button requesting a background check on one of the listings, you’ll be redirected to another people search site where they will likely try to sell you a background check package.

This is another reason why the industry is so challenging to deal with. They all share so much information with each other that they can seamlessly integrate each other into their sales process.

It becomes hard to tell where one site ends and another begins.

Your Advantage

Despite all of the inconvenience and frustration that True People Search causes, you have a massive advantage when it comes to keeping your private info safe.

All of these sites have to honor your opt out requests.

This means when you submit a True People Search removal request, they can’t ignore it. Doing so would mean they’re breaking the law (and these sites don’t want that kind of trouble).

All you need to do is opt out correctly on all the proper sites, and keep tabs on when they remove your information.

Here are a few reasons why some people fail to stop their info from appearing on sites like True People Search:

• They only opt out from a few sites
• They don’t complete the removal steps correctly
• They don’t monitor these sites going forward (information can sometimes appear in the future by accident)

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do all this. You just need to be organized (or simply use our software).

So without further delay, here are the steps for removing your information from True People Search.

The Fastest Method For Removal

If you want to remove yourself or opt out from True People Search the fastest way to do it is with the new tool we developed.

Here’s what it can do for you:

• Complete the True People Search removal process automatically
• Opt you out of 20+ other websites that share you information automatically as well
• Guarantee correct completion of the removal steps no matter how much they change over time (these sites like to switch thing up frequently)
• Monitor the web to make sure your personal info doesn’t show up on any of these sites again

If you’re interested in giving it a shot and saving a lot of time, here’s what to do:

Step 1: Log in to your BrandYourself account

This new feature has been added to the existing dashboard within all BrandYourself profiles.

If you don’t have an account yet you can create one here.

Step 2: Enter the new “private info” area

There’s a new area in the dashboard that’s labeled “protect private info” which you will need to visit in order to start the automatic removal process.

Step 3: Put the feature to work

Right away we’ll automatically scan the web to look for any personal information that might be floating around on one of these sites.

When this is done all you need to do is click the blue button and you’re in business. We’ll automatically begin the True People Search removal process and do the same for the 20+ other sites on our list.

When everything is all said and done your info is going to be much, much safer.

This section is also where you should return in the future to monitor the progress of your opt out requests as well as ensure that no new private information has been exposed.

As far as a timeline goes, expect to wait 3-4 weeks for these sites to honor your removal request. They get a lot of these opt out requests every day (no surprise there) so there’s a lot for them to go through, even when it’s automated.

The Slower, Old-Fashioned Way

If the manual process is more your speed here are the steps you’ll need. Removing yourself from True People Search manually still works quite well, but there are a couple downsides you should know before you start:

• It will take you significantly longer
• You’ll need to repeat this manually for all other sites that have access to your information as well
• If you want to keep tabs on your privacy, be prepared to Google your name a lot (and track everything)

If you’re still up to the challenge, here’s what you need to do to manually complete the True People Search removal process:

Step 1: Click the removal link here

This is the page you need to start on in order for your removal request to go through properly.

Step 2: Click the checkbox agreeing that you’re the subject of the record, solve the captcha, and click the “Begin Removal” button.

Step 3: Enter the users name, city and state, then click the blue search button.

Step 4: Find the correct listing, then click the “View All Details” button.

Read this carefully because many of the listings look very similar at first glance.

Step 5: Scroll down to the bottom of the listing, then click “Remove This Record”

Step 6: You’re done!

They say that your information will be removed in a few hours, but from what we’ve seen it typically takes longer.

What To Do When Your Done

If you used our software to complete the True People Search removal process then you won’t have to worry about this.

We recommend that you visit the dashboard every once in a while to make sure we didn’t find any new exposed information, but that’s all you need to do!

If you went with the manual opt out process then we highly recommend you do the following:

• Revisit True People Search in a couple weeks to make sure they removed all of your information correctly
• Google yourself to see if any other sites have similar information about you (this is highly likely)
• When you find something new, complete their opt out steps and repeat the whole process again

This might seem like overkill, but it’s the smartest thing you can do to protect your privacy online.

Sites like True People Search are the first place scammers and hackers go when they look to collect information about other people in bulk. You don’t want your information to be on there when they do.

Opting out of PeopleSmart is something we highly recommend if you want to keep your personal information private.

PeopleSmart is a self-described, “privacy-friendly people search engine” whose search tools can, “help you connect, identify unknown calls, complete client research and more.”

One of the reasons why PeopleSmart is so popular is that they often reveal more details about a person for free than similar sites. A lot of people searching websites hide significant amounts of information behind paywalls, but not PeopleSmart.

This is why completing the PeopleSmart opt out steps is so important.

Without a paywall, your information is accessible to literally anyone with an internet connection. This is very troubling if you want to maintain your privacy.

Even the lowest of costs can help reduce the number of malicious attempts to access your personal information. It’s still not ideal, and we recommend you opt out of all people search sites no matter if they charge money or not.

But it’s something.

By PeopleSmart making the decision not to charge money on the front end, they’re opening up the floodgates and putting your privacy (or security) at risk.

Before we show you the easiest way to quickly complete the PeopleSmart opt out process, let’s get some of the basic information out in the open.

What Does PeopleSmart Say They Do?

People use background check and people search companies like PeopleSmart for any number of reasons.

According to this site, the personal uses range from rekindling old flames, to finding former classmates and childhood friends, to connecting with those who are in your hobby group.

PeopleSmart also offers services specifically designed with more professional uses in mind.

PeopleSmart PRO claims to aid professionals like lawyers and realtors to identify leads, verify client information, gain greater access to public records, and more.

What’s Actually Happening

While it’s true that PeopleSmart does sell and provide these services, there is a seedy side.

And it’s the whole reason why you need to go through the PeopleSmart opt out steps.

People search sites like PeopleSmart are used every day for the sake of identity theft, hacks, and spam. Private information is found on these sites and used directly by (or sold to) people with malicious intent.

This means you need to get off PeopleSmart as soon as possible.

Here’s how.

How To Opt Out Of PeopleSmart Quickly

We hinted at this a little bit earlier, but it’s time for the big reveal. We recently added a new feature to our software that will automatically opt you out of PeopleSmart and 20+ other people search sites.

As a matter of fact, it’s quickly become one of our most popular features already!

Here’s why:

• It’s a massive time-saver
• It guarantees that the request is submitted correctly, and honored by PeopleSmart
• It takes care of the other big people search sites who we promise have access to your data as well

Removing yourself from PeopleSmart with our software only takes three quick steps.

Step 1: Visit your BrandYourself profile

We’ve added this new feature that allows you to automatically complete the PeopleSmart opt out process into your existing account. If you don’t have one yet you can create yours here.

Step 2: Navigate to the new privacy in the dashboard

We’ve added a new section called “protect private info” to the left-hand side of your dashboard.

Click on this section to proceed.

Step 3: Begin the automatic opt out process

Once you’re there clicking the blue button will start up the process for you. We will send out removal requests to all of the most important people finder websites you need to opt out of, including PeopleSmart.

After this has been done you can come back to this section later on to check on the progress of your removal requests. This can take up to a few weeks for sites to comply with (they get a lot of opt out requests as you can imagine).

The Manual PeopleSmart Opt Out Steps

If you would rather do things manually that’s totally understandable. Before you proceed, it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

• The whole process will take a lot longer, so make sure you stick with it until the end
• You will need to manually opt out from a bunch of other people search sites as well
• If you want to check back on the progress of your request you will need to do it manually as well. Stay organized!

Step 1: To manually run through the PeopleSmart.com opt out steps, start by visiting this page. Enter your first and last name, and your city and state, then click the “Find My Listing” button.

Step 2: If you see your listing, click the “That’s The One” button.

Step 3: There will be a pop-up that asks who you are opting out for. Click “Yourself” unless this is for someone else. Then click the “Submit” button.

Step 4: You will need to then verify your email. To do this, submit your email address into the Email Address field, check the box to prove you are not a robot, and click the “Send Verification” button.

Step 5: You’re almost there! Continue to your email account to complete the opt-out process.

Step 6: Open the email from PeopleSmart. Click on the “Complete Opt-out” button.

Step 7: Click “OK” button on Opt-Out Complete page.

Some Things To Remember With The Manual Opt Out

When it comes to removing your name or opting out of databases like PeopleSmart, remember that this will be an ongoing effort, and it’s not over once you’ve filed a removal request.

In addition to the processing time, there’s a very strong chance that this same information is available on other sites.

You see, people search sites pass information back and forth to each other on a regular basis. It’s a tactic they use to ensure they have as much information on their sites as possible.

Another shady reality is that many of these sites are owned by the same people. Their goal is to set up a large network of these sites to maximize profits and make it as difficult to remove information as possible.

So don’t finish the PeopleSmart opt out steps and think everything is settled!

If you use our software you won’t have to spend time keeping track of all this (although we do recommend you understand the landscape for your own sake). If you want to do it yourself you’ll need to stay organized and diligent about keeping your personal information safe.

Unfortunately it’s the reality of the times we live in.

Make This The Start Of A More Secure Existence Online

You now know how to opt out and remove yourself from PeopleSmart, and hopefully have a better understanding of the overall landscape of private info website.

While it might be tempting to ignore, checking in on your online privacy from time to time is something we can’t recommend enough. The sharing of sensitive information online isn’t going anywhere.

The more you stay up to date and aware of what’s going on, the more protected you’ll be.