How to Get Your Personal Information Off the Internet

In today’s digital age, your personal information is everywhere online – and that can be unnerving. Maybe you’ve been doxxed or subjected to a data breach, or maybe you just want more privacy. I’m Kyndal Hutchison, a cyber analyst from Minc Law who helps our firm’s clients protect their privacy and take control of their digital risk. In this article, I’m going to walk you through the steps you can take to dramatically reduce your digital footprint, even if completely erasing it isn’t possible. I’ll share strategies for removing data from Google, social media, data brokers, and other more obscure places. You’ll learn how to prioritize the info to remove, use the best free and paid removal tools, and adopt privacy best practices for maintaining a low profile. By the end of this guide, you’ll be empowered to take back control of your online presence. Let’s dive in.

Risks of Exposed Personal Information Online

In our increasingly connected world, it’s easier than ever for others to find your personal information online. Unfortunately, this can sometimes have harmful consequences. When sensitive data like your home address, phone number, email, and the names of your relatives are readily available, malicious actors can obtain it and engage in stalking, harassment, social engineering, and even identity theft.

Imagine a scenario where someone with a grudge finds your home address and shows up at your doorstep. Or a hacker uses your personal details to open credit cards in your name. These are just a couple of examples of the risks you face when too much of your information is exposed online. That’s why taking steps to remove personal information from the internet is crucial for protecting your privacy, security, and peace of mind.

What Personal Information Should You Remove First?

With so much data about us scattered across the web, it can be tough to know where to start when removing personal information. As a general rule, it’s wise to prioritize removing the most sensitive data points first. These are the details that could cause the greatest harm if they fall into the wrong hands.

At the top of the list should be information that could lead to physical safety issues or financial fraud, such as your:

• Home address
• Phone number
• Email address
• Social Security number
• Bank account and credit card numbers
• Driver’s license number
• Passport details

It’s also important to consider removing personal details that could be used to dig up more sensitive info or enable social engineering attacks like your:

• Full date of birth
• Names of family members and relatives
• Addresses of relatives
• Alma maters and graduation years
• Employment history

While it may not be possible to erase every trace of this info from the internet, taking steps to remove it from the most prominent and accessible sources can greatly reduce your risk. In the following sections, I’ll walk you through exactly how to do that.

How to Remove Personal Information from Google

Google is the simplest place people turn to find information about others online. That’s why removing your personal information from Google’s search results is one of the most impactful steps you can take to protect your privacy.

Google offers a few different options for removing personally identifiable information (PII) from its search engine. Here’s how to use them:

1. Visit Google’s removal request form at https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/legal-removal-request?complaint_type=rtbf.
2. Select “Remove information you see in Google Search” and click “Next”.
3. Choose the category that best fits the type of content you want to remove, such as “Personal information, like ID numbers and private documents” or “Offensive or illegal content”.
4. Enter the URL of the webpage containing your personal information. If the info appears in Google’s search results snippets or images, you can paste the link to the search results page instead.
5. Complete the form with additional details, like screenshots of the content and search results, your name, country of residence, and a description of how the content is causing you harm.
6. Submit the form and wait for Google to review your request. If approved, the URLs you reported will be removed from Google’s search results.

Keep in mind that this process only removes the content from Google’s search engine, not from the website itself. you may need to contact the site owner separately to request removal at the source (more on that later).

Another option for removing a limited amount of personal info from Google is the “Results about you” feature. Here’s how it works:

1. Go to the Results about you page while logged into your Google account.
2. Enter your name, phone number, or physical address to see search results containing that info.
3. For each result, click the three-dot menu and select “Remove result”. Then choose whether you want to remove the info from Google Search or from the site itself.
4. Complete the removal form with details about why the info should be removed. Google’s team will review the request and notify you of its decision.

This feature is handy for quickly finding and reporting a few results, but it’s not a comprehensive solution. For more extensive removals, the full request form is a better option.

Finally, Google recently launched the self-doxing removal form, specifically for requesting removal of doxxed content like explicit or intimate personal images, involuntary fake pornography, content that contains personal contact info, and depictions of minors being exploited or abused. This form is useful for extreme cases of personal info being exposed maliciously online.

With these tools at your disposal, you can significantly cut down on how much of your personal information appears in Google’s search results. But it’s just one piece of the larger removal puzzle. Next, we’ll cover how to find and delete old posts and accounts that may contain outdated or sensitive personal details.

How to Delete Unused Accounts and Old Posts

Over the years, most of us have accumulated a trail of old social media profiles, forum accounts, and blog posts across the web. While these digital breadcrumbs may seem harmless, they can actually reveal a lot of personal information about you, especially if you were less privacy-conscious when you created them.

That’s why an essential step in removing your personal information from the internet is tracking down and deleting any unused accounts and old posts that mention sensitive details like your full name, address, or contact information. Here’s how to do it:

First, make a list of all the old accounts and posts you can remember creating. To jog your memory, try:

• Searching for your name, old usernames, and email addresses on Google
• Looking through your email inbox for account signup confirmations
• Checking your browser’s saved logins for accounts you may have forgotten about

Once you have a list of old accounts and posts to remove, visit each platform’s website and log into your account. If you can’t remember your login credentials, look for an account recovery process or contact the site’s support team for assistance.

After logging in, locate the account deletion option in your profile settings. On most platforms, you’ll find it under a menu labeled something like “Account”, “Privacy”, or “Security”. Follow the prompts to permanently delete your account and all associated data.

Before closing an account, it’s a good idea to first remove any old posts, comments, or media that contain personal information you don’t want online anymore. On most platforms, you can delete content by clicking the three-dot menu or “Edit” button on each post and selecting “Delete”.

How to Remove Personal Information from Data Broker Sites

If you’ve ever Googled your own name, you’ve likely come across data broker sites like Whitepages, Spokeo, and BeenVerified that claim to have a full report on you with details like your age, current and past addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, relatives’ names, and even your estimated net worth.

These data brokers collect information about individuals from a variety of public records and online sources, then compile it into detailed profiles that they sell to anyone willing to pay a small fee. The problem is, you never consented to have your personal data collected and sold in this way, and it can enable bad actors to access a treasure trove of sensitive info about your life.

Fortunately, many data broker sites offer opt-out processes that allow you to remove your personal information from their databases. Here’s a general outline of the steps involved:

1. Search for your name on popular data broker sites like Whitepages, Spokeo, BeenVerified, MyLife, and PeopleSmart.
2. If you find a profile containing your personal information, locate the site’s opt-out page. This is usually linked to in the site’s footer or privacy policy.
3. Follow the instructions on the opt-out page to request removal of your info. This typically involves submitting a form with your identifying details and proof of identity.
4. Wait for the service to process your request. Timelines vary, but most data brokers will remove your info within a few days to a few weeks.
5. Repeat the process on as many data broker sites as possible. With hundreds of these services out there, it can be a time-consuming process to manually opt out of all of them.

Here are the opt-out pages for some of the most prominent data brokers:

• Whitepages: https://www.whitepages.com/suppression-requests
• Spokeo: https://www.spokeo.com/optout
• BeenVerified: https://www.beenverified.com/app/optout/search
• MyLife: https://www.mylife.com/privacy-policy#
• PeopleFinders: https://www.peoplefinders.com/opt-out
• Instant Checkmate: https://www.instantcheckmate.com/opt-out/

To speed up the process, you can use one of the many paid services DeleteMe or Kanary that will handle the opt-out requests on your behalf and monitor data broker sites to ensure your information stays off. These services can save you hours of time, but they come at a recurring subscription cost.

How to Remove Personal Information from the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine is a public service that preserves snapshots of websites over time, allowing users to view what a given URL looked like on a specific date in the past. While this can be a valuable tool for researching the history of the web, it also means that deleted webpages containing your personal information may still be accessible through the Wayback Machine.

If you’ve found sensitive personal data about yourself on an archived webpage in the Wayback Machine, you can request that the Internet Archive remove the snapshot. Here’s how:

1. Go to the Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web/ and enter the URL of the archived page you want to remove.
2. Click the “Request Removal” button located below the URL search bar.
3. Fill out the removal request form with your name, email address, and the URL you want removed. In the “Reason for removal” field, explain that the archived page contains your personal information that you want taken down.
4. Complete the CAPTCHA and click “Submit”.

The Internet Archive’s team will review your request and typically remove the specified URL from the Wayback Machine within a few days. However, it’s important to note that this process only removes the snapshot from the Wayback Machine itself, not from any other websites that may have captured or republished the same content.

In some cases, you may need to contact the owner of the original website and ask them to update or remove the page containing your personal information, then republish the site so that the Wayback Machine captures the new version without your data. This can be a more complex process, but it may be necessary for truly removing your information from all archived versions of the page.

Another limitation of the Wayback Machine removal process is that it only removes the specific URL you request, not any other archived pages on the same site that may also contain your personal data. To find and remove additional snapshots, you’ll need to search the Wayback Machine for variations of the URL and submit separate requests for each one.

Despite these challenges, it’s still worthwhile to remove as many Wayback Machine snapshots containing your personal information as possible. By doing so, you can make it significantly harder for others to find and exploit outdated copies of your data.

So far, we’ve covered how to remove your personal information from Google search results, delete old accounts and posts, opt out of data broker sites, and request removals from the Wayback Machine. But what if you need extra help or want an automated solution for ongoing monitoring? That’s where paid removal services come in.

Online Privacy Best Practices to Maintain a Low Profile

In today’s digital age, it’s nearly impossible to completely erase your presence from the internet. Even if you diligently remove your personal information from search results, data brokers, and old accounts, new exposures of your data may surface over time.

That’s why it’s crucial to pair your removal efforts with proactive privacy habits that can help prevent your personal information from being exposed online in the first place. Here are some of the most effective strategies I recommend to my clients:

1. Be mindful of what you share on social media. Avoid posting sensitive details like your home address, phone number, or date of birth, even in private posts that could be screenshotted and shared. Use strong privacy settings to limit who can see your posts and personal information.
2. Opt out of data collection whenever possible. When signing up for new online accounts or services, look for privacy settings that let you opt out of having your data collected and shared with third parties. On websites, click “no” or “disagree” when prompted about cookie tracking and data sharing. Consider also adding a cookie auto-blocker extension to your browser to avoid the need to click through consent screens on every website.
3. Use strong, unique passwords for all of your online accounts. Avoid using the same password across multiple accounts, as a single data breach could compromise them all. Instead, use a secure password manager like LastPass or 1Password to generate and store complex passwords for each account.
4. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your accounts. 2FA adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of verification, such as a code sent to your phone, to log in. This can prevent hackers from accessing your accounts even if they obtain your password.
5. Be cautious about using public Wi-Fi networks. Unsecured public Wi-Fi can allow hackers to intercept your online activity and steal sensitive information. If you do need to use public Wi-Fi, avoid accessing sensitive accounts like banking or email, and use a virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt your traffic.
6. Monitor your online presence regularly. Set up Google Alerts for your name and any variations (like “John Doe” + “New York”) to get notified when new mentions of your personal information appear online. Periodically search for your name on data broker sites and submit opt-out requests as needed. Or, consider signing up for our Digital Risk Protection Program to access a centralized dashboard and personalized notifications for mentions of your name and personal information online.
7. Limit the personal information you provide to businesses and online services. When filling out forms or creating new accounts, only provide the minimum amount of personal information required. If a form asks for optional details like your phone number or date of birth, leave those fields blank.
8. Use privacy-focused browsers and search engines. Browsers like Brave and DuckDuckGo are designed to block trackers and protect your online privacy by default. They can help limit the amount of personal data that websites and advertisers can collect about you.
9. Be selective about which third-party apps you grant access to your social media accounts. When logging into a new service or website, avoid using “Sign in with Facebook/Google/Twitter” options, as these can share your personal data with the third-party app. Instead, create a separate login with a unique password.
10. Keep your software and devices up-to-date with the latest security patches. Hackers often exploit vulnerabilities in outdated software to gain access to personal information. By installing updates promptly, you can protect against these types of attacks.

By incorporating these best practices into your daily online habits, you can significantly reduce the amount of personal information that ends up exposed on the internet. It’s an ongoing effort, but one that’s well worth it for the peace of mind and protection it provides.

How Minc Law Can Help You Take Control of Your Online Privacy

At Minc Law, we understand how overwhelming and time-consuming it can be to remove your personal information from the internet on your own. That’s why we offer a range of services to help individuals like you take back control of your online presence and privacy.

Our experienced team of attorneys and digital privacy experts can assist you with:

1. Identifying and removing personal information from data brokers, search results, and websites. We have a proven track record of successfully removing over 50,000 pieces of unwanted online content for our clients.
2. Conducting a comprehensive audit of your online presence to identify all instances of your personal information appearing on the internet. We’ll provide you with a detailed dashboard and action plan for removing any sensitive or unwanted data.
3. Submitting opt-out requests and takedown notices on your behalf to data brokers, websites, and search engines. Our team will handle the time-consuming process of contacting each source and ensuring your information is removed promptly.
4. Monitoring the internet for new instances of your personal information appearing online. We’ll alert you to any new exposures and take swift action to remove them before they can be exploited by bad actors.
5. Providing expert guidance on online privacy best practices and tools to help you maintain a low digital profile going forward. We’ll educate you on proactive steps you can take to prevent your personal information from being exposed online in the future.
6. Offering our cutting-edge Digital Risk Protection (DRP) service. DRP is a comprehensive solution that combines automated monitoring technology with human analysis to continuously scan the internet for your sensitive information. If any exposures are detected, our team will promptly remove them and provide you with regular reports on the status of your online privacy.

In addition to these services, Minc Law is also equipped to handle more complex online privacy matters, such as:

• Removing revenge porn, defamatory content, and other types of online harassment
• Assisting with online reputation management and brand protection
• Advising businesses on compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA
• Pursuing legal action against individuals or entities who have violated your privacy rights

No matter what your specific online privacy needs may be, Minc Law has the expertise and resources to help. We pride ourselves on providing personalized, compassionate service to each and every client we work with.

Don’t let the fear of exposing your personal information online hold you back any longer. With Minc Law on your side, you can take back control of your digital footprint and enjoy greater peace of mind knowing that your privacy is being protected by the best in the business.

If you would like to get started with content removal or digital privacy services, reach out to schedule your initial no-obligation consultation with an intake specialist by calling (216) 373-7706, speaking with a Chat representative, or filling out our online contact form.