A Weekend Project - Shrinking Your Digital Footprint

Search your own full name in a private browser window sometime. Then try it with your city added. Then your phone number in quotes. Depending on how long you've been online, you might find old forum posts, a profile on a site you forgot existed, and, very likely, a people-search site offering your address, relatives and phone number to anyone who asks.

You can't erase yourself from the internet, and anyone promising that is overselling. But you can make yourself a lot harder to find, and cut down on old accounts that could leak your data in some future breach. It's a good weekend project. Here's how I'd go about it.

1. Take inventory

Start with the search. Your name, your usernames, your email addresses, your phone number. Note what comes up.

Then find the accounts you forgot about. Your password manager is the best list you've got. Your email inbox is the second best. Search for words like "welcome," "verify your email," "confirm your account" and "your order." You'll find sign-ups going back years.

It's also worth checking your email address on Have I Been Pwned, which tells you which known data breaches it showed up in. Any account in that list is one you'll want to either close or secure with a new, unique password.

2. Delete what you don't use

Every dormant account is a small liability: data sitting on someone's server, waiting for the day they get breached. If you haven't used it in years and don't need it, delete it.

Look in the account settings for "delete account" or "close account," which is often buried in privacy or security settings. If you can't find it, the site JustDeleteMe keeps a directory of direct links and notes on how hard each service makes it. Some services only "deactivate," which keeps your data. Look for the real delete option. Where a site won't let you delete, at least change the details to something meaningless, remove any profile photo, and set a unique password.

Before deleting anything important, download your data if the service offers it. Old photos and messages are easy to lose for good.

3. Deal with data brokers

People-search and data broker sites compile public records, marketing data and scraped info into profiles. Most of them have an opt-out process, usually a form, sometimes needing an email confirmation. It's tedious, and they're numerous, so start with the ones that showed up in your own search results.

A few things to know. Opt-outs often aren't permanent; profiles can reappear as new data comes in, so it's worth checking again every few months. There are paid services that send these opt-out requests for you on an ongoing basis, which can be worth it if you'd rather not do it by hand. And depending on where you live, privacy laws may give you a formal right to request deletion, which can make companies take you more seriously.

4. Tidy what you keep

For accounts you're keeping, go through the privacy settings. Make old social media posts visible only to friends or to you. Remove your phone number and birthday from public profiles. Turn off settings that let people find you by phone number or email. Untag yourself from photos you'd rather not have attached to your name.

Clean up old posts you wouldn't write today, especially anything that gives away your address, workplace, daily routine or the answers to classic security questions (pet's name, first school, mother's maiden name).

5. Ask search engines to catch up

Once something's deleted from a site, search results can lag behind. Google has a tool for requesting removal of outdated content, and it also lets you request removal of results showing certain personal info like your contact details. Other search engines have their own forms.

6. Slow down the new mess

The cleanup only lasts if you stop adding to the pile. A few habits help a lot. Use email aliases when signing up for things, so each service gets its own address and you can shut one off if it starts leaking. Give out your real phone number as rarely as you can. Skip the "sign in with" social buttons when you don't need them. Before handing over details for a loyalty card or a contest entry, ask yourself whether it's worth it.

None of this makes you invisible, and that's not really the goal. The goal is that a curious stranger with a search engine finds a lot less, and the next big breach has fewer of your accounts in it. A weekend now, and a quick check-in every few months, gets you most of the way there.