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All online traffic leaves a trace, be it a simple Google search or creating a profile on a new social media platform. Over time, these traces, alongside other digital activity such as purchases, create a detailed digital footprint. This creates a detailed profile of your digital traffic patterns and holds a lot of your personal data. The worst part about this is that many are unaware of how much data they put out there. However, the rise of personal data as a valuable asset has increased concerns for digital privacy. As such, many individuals are now looking to clean up their digital footprint and reduce how much of their data is out there. 

Here, we will explore the impact of digital footprints and how you can try to disappear from the web. No matter what your standing is, data leaks and privacy concerns are quickly becoming a very common issue, so much so that more and more individuals wish they could simply disappear from the web with the click of a button.

What It Means to “Disappear” From the Web

When people online talk about disappearing from the web, they usually refer to removing specific types of personal information. Data collected through trackers and profiles is collected and stored in various systems. By deciding to remove your personal information from the internet and beginning the process of data removal, you can ‘’disappear’’ from the web. Data removal tools and services remove data such as:

  • Search Engine Results – Search engines can sometimes reveal sensitive data, such as home addresses, if they have been exposed on other pages.
  • Old and Unused Social Media Accounts – Social media accounts hold a lot of personal information that can either be a privacy risk or a bad reflection of who you are now.
  • Data Broker Listings – Data brokers are parties that collect personal data and create profiles based on it. From here, they go on to sell this data without the owner’s consent or knowledge, most often.
  • Leaked and Exposed Data – Data leaks are very common in the modern digital world, as security breaches and hacks are a common occurrence. By keeping an eye on known security breaches, you can know if any of your data was misplaced and made public.

These are just the most common types of data and their collection methods. On the web, there are endless ways for companies and individuals to collect your data without you ever knowing it. To counter this, it is crucial that you understand what data you are putting out there and how you can mitigate it.

Why Demand for Data Removal Is Rising

Source: Freepik

The ultimate goal of data removal is to take back control of your digital identity. Additionally, digital privacy and control over your data mitigate the many risks that come with data leakage. Among these are identity theft, fraud, scams, and so many others that can directly impact your personal life. Because of these significant threats, data removal is rapidly becoming a must-use practice for anyone using the web. 

Out of all of the dangers, many different kinds of scams are becoming increasingly prevalent. Their aim is usually to extort more information or funds from you by abusing data found in leaks or sold by brokers as leverage. It is important to identify these situations and take them as a sign that your data has been exposed. By taking the appropriate action and removing your data from the web, you can prevent these situations from happening in the future. 

The Challenges of Erasing Data

While data removal is more popular than ever and widely utilized, it does come with its challenges. Removing all or even most of your data from the internet is no small task, as personal information is stored across hundreds of platforms and databases. Additionally, once it is in these databases, it can be further shared, which makes it very difficult to track down and remove.

The leading cause of this is data brokers, because they harvest data from public records, social media, and other sources to create detailed profiles. These user profiles are eerily accurate and often find themselves in the hands of hundreds of companies and cybercriminals. The worst part about them is that they store even your deleted data, such as closed accounts or associations. Luckily, through your right to be forgotten, you can remove yourself from these databases by manually submitting an opt-out request or going through a data removal service.

There is a lot we need to start implementing into our everyday browsing to ensure privacy from practical steps, such as deleting old accounts and checking permissions, to proactive solutions such as data removal services. Individuals, now more than ever, need to be vigilant and take their digital privacy seriously to regain and keep control over their digital identity. 

This content was produced independently from the Worldcrunch editorial team.