How Do I Remove Personal Information From Internet For Free in 2024

Worried about your personal information on the internet? Learn how to remove personal information from internet for free.

We live in a digital world, we are connected via the Internet no matter how far away. All our information is exchanged through the internet, this includes, photos of trips to exotic countries, dinner at friends' or colleagues' places, birthday pics, etc.

Everything we do is known to our close ones and also to the website owners. Now based on websites you have visited, and based on the privacy policy provided by the website your information can also be available to a set of 3rd party people called Data brokers.

This tends to become a problem as your personal information is now in the hands of some unknown person and at this point in time ANYTHING can happen.

In this article, MacSecurity will review how to remove personal information from the internet for free so you don't have to spend on a third-party tool.

How Do I Remove Personal Information From Internet For Free

Having your personal data and information floating around on the internet is a dangerous thing as there are numerous data brokers who tend to share your information with other parties and this is not limited to just your photographs.

Before we get into how to remove our personal information from the internet, let's take a look at how it gets up there in the first place.

What the Internet knows about you?

A simple search (your name and sometimes your city) will reveal a lot of information about you online. Recently I searched my name on the internet and I was shocked to see my photos in Google Images. When I clicked on the image, I found an article that had pictures clicked by me.

Luckily a lot of information was not available as I wasn’t an active social media user. But this was just a basic example of what was available online about me.

You can try this with your name and you never know might be surprised by seeing the results.

What do “Data brokers” know about you?

So one fine day I got a mysterious call from an individual asking if I was interested in buying a credit card. The guy worked for the marketing team of a reputed bank. The weird thing was I didn’t have an account in that bank but the individual still had my number.

When I asked him where he got my number from, he said he got it from “their” database. I asked what this database is and how did he get my number. He was clueless about what to answer and the only thing he said was that they have a database that has all my info, but he wasn’t sure where he got it from. All he knew was that his team lead gave him that data so that he can get people on board for buying the credit card. I was shocked, but I couldn’t blame or do anything without knowing the context.

So I started reading about this and that’s when I came to know about the people known as “Data brokers”. These “Data brokers” are the individuals that belong to multi-billion dollar industries made up of companies who collect consumer data and sell it to other companies, usually for marketing purposes. Most people are not aware such companies exist, but this might come as a shock - it generates around $200 billion annually.

Where do they get this information from?

Data brokers can get your personal information from your organization, websites you visit, car dealers, hospitals, retailers, social media sites, or mobile service providers. Some of this information can also come from brands or stores where you have signed up for a loyalty or store credit card, and depending on the store you signed up at, you could be added to a variety of different databases.

For example, if you signed up for a loyalty card at an apparel store, your information might be sold to companies looking to market their apparel.

Well if you’re wondering if this is legal then yes it is legal as they have obtained this information legally from a variety of public sources.

How do Data brokers use my information ?

Data brokers mainly sell your information to other companies that fall under following categories:

• Marketing & Advertising :- Data usually sold to these companies usually target you for ads. So if you have bought a Product A from Company A then Company B can use your purchase history to sell Product B.

• Fraud Detection :- Some businesses use information for fraud detection. For Example, if you have applied for a loan then the bank can check your information against the data brokers to verify your data isn't fraudulent.

• Risk-Mitigation :- Companies that follow under this category use your information to make you certain offers. For Example, if the information includes data that indicates that you aren’t an active gym member then the company might offer you some health insurance.

Likewise they can also use your financial history to provide you offers. Based on your purchase history a company can figure out if you’re comfortable financially by checking the value of your online purchases. Based on this they might offer high risk loans if you’re not under any debt or they might offer you low-interest avenues to invest your money in.

So is there a way I can delete my Information available online?

“The 'Clean Slate'? Type in a name and date of birth and within a couple of hours, that person ceases to exist in any database? Little too good to be true.”
- John Dagget (The Dark Knight Rises)

Unfortunately, just like the movie The Dark Knight Rises, a program like Clean Slate doesn’t exist in real life too.

Don’t lose hope yet, Yes deleting information from all databases seems impossible but there are few ways you can reduce your digital footprint next time you’re online.

Limiting the Information that’s shown on Social Media Accounts

Well for starters, if you want to limit the information that’s present on your social media you try doing the following steps:

• Keep the visibility of your mobile number and address to yourself (or remove it altogether)

• Change the privacy settings of your photos and posts. Set either to Private or only friends in the case of Facebook. If you’re an Instagram user then you can keep two accounts, One private and one public (If you’re a Photographer, Artist, Influencer, etc)

Deleting Social Media Accounts

If you suddenly had an epiphany and decide that you want to go completely dark on social media then you can delete your social media accounts permanently.

• To Delete your Facebook Account you can follow the steps listed out here.

• To Delete your Instagram Account you can follow the steps listed out here.

Opting out from Data Brokerage sites

Some data brokers also allow you to opt from their services. This can be very tedious as one needs to contact each data broker and opt out from their service.

You can also go for paid options like DeleteMe and PrivacyDuck which will keep your information away from Data Brokers. Do note that these options are very expensive.

Use Incognito Mode

Web Browsers use cookies to find your browsing habits based on which you get ads targeted towards you. To avoid this, you can either use incognito mode or enable Send a ‘Do Not Track’ request with your browsing traffic in chrome settings.

Do note that you won’t be completely invisible using Incognito Mode, your employer, school or ISP can still track your browsing habits.

Sweep out your Computer Data

You might also want to clear all your personal information that is stored in your browser history, including websites you visit, passwords, and cached images and files as a hacker can gain access to your device, and use this information for his personal gains.

I recommend using CCleaner or an open-source alternative - Bleachbit to clean up your device regularly.

Remove Outdated Search Results

As mentioned above, search engines can reveal a lot of information about you, this information can also come from a variety of sources like websites, blogs, social media sites, or even cached images.

But you can ask Google to exclude any results containing your personal information by submitting a removal request form.

This solution is not 100% guaranteed as the original articles, websites will still contain your information but the good news is you won’t appear in the search results.

Use Temporary Emails/Phone Numbers wherever Possible.

If you want to avoid providing your email id while signing up on certain sites then you always go for temporary email ids. These temporary emails can also self-destruct in minutes or days.

These can be extremely useful in a multitude of cases online.

I recommend using this site - Temp Mail for creating a temporary email. I have been using this for 3 years and can guarantee it’s completely safe and secure.

There is also a similar service for phone numbers - Temporary Phone Numbers

Use a VPN or switch to a Privacy Safe Browser

If you’re still worried that your browsers can still read your info when you're online, then you can use a paid VPN like ExpressVPN or switch to a privacy safe browser like Tor or Firefox.

Browsers like Tor also come with an in-built VPN that can provide additional layers of safety and security when browsing online, thus keeping your identity safe and sound.

How can my personal information land on the internet?

Your information could end up in the hands of fraudsters, which could be quite problematic. Once they have your entire name and other personal information, they might put it all together to build a more complete image of you and possibly wreak havoc on your finances, send fraudulent emails, or even physically stalk you.

Personal information examples include:

• Information such as your full name, address, phone number, and educational background.
• Account numbers and login credentials for banks.
• Account information for websites, such as user names and passwords.
• Information about your health or your insurance.
• Passport or tax identification numbers are examples of identification numbers.

Here are four ways burglars might access your personal data.

Remove all unnecessary apps from your phone or tablet

Apps on your smartphone and tablet gather personal information, including your name, email address, spending patterns, and location. Your finances may be in danger if cybercriminals get access to, leak, or steal this information and use it to commit fraud.

Review the Terms of Use and Privacy Notice before deciding whether an app is reliable to learn what information is collected, why it is gathered, and how it may be safeguarded, stored, and shared. Check out some user reviews as well.

If you later decide you don't want the app to keep your information, seek up how to deactivate the app and delete all of your information. You might need to ask the app developer to delete your information by getting in touch with them.

Additionally, it's a good idea to frequently review your apps' privacy settings.

One application, for instance, can ask to use your microphone. While it could make sense for a voice and texting app, a Maps app might not require it.

Remove the ones you're not using while you're checking these applications frequently to clear up space and reduce your chance of information exposure.

Remember that just because you uninstall an app from your device doesn't imply the app developer has erased your personal information. To totally remove your account, once more review the privacy and account settings.

Remove personal information from Google

The best data aggregator on the internet is Google. Therefore, you should become familiar with Google's activity controls, which allow you to regulate your browser and app activity, YouTube history, and ad personalization.

Google activity controls can be found here.

Visit this page to submit a request to have your personally identifiable information (PII) deleted from Google if you've been doxxed or simply need it gone. You can go here to ask for the cache to be emptied and the data to be removed from the search engine if you remove personal information from Google but it still appears in cached Google search results.

Finally, use this link to submit a removal request if you need to report abuse or otherwise delete personal information from Google for legal reasons.

Personal information that Google will remove

Let's say you are unable to convince the website owner to take the content down. In that circumstances, Google may delete any personal data that poses a serious threat to financial fraud, identity theft, or other special dangers. The following articles go into detail about the various removal services that are offered:

• Remove non-consensual explicit or intimate personal images from Google
• Remove involuntary fake pornography from Google
• Remove content about me on sites with exploitative removal practices from Google
• Remove select personally identifiable information (PII) or doxxing content from Google Search
• Remove images of minors from Google search results
• Remove irrelevant pornography from Google search results for my name

You should review the removal article pertinent to your request, as per our recommendation. You can submit a removal request as instructed in the article if you think your request complies with its standards.

How Do I Remove Personal Information From Internet For Free - Conclusion

Well there is no concrete solution to this as an industry like Data Brokerage is valued even though they operate in the “Grey Area”. Because it is legal, these industry practices won’t stop for years.

So in order to keep peace of mind and our privacy safe, we as consumers can only practice safe browsing habits which will be worthwhile as days go by. We hope this guide on How Do I Remove Personal Information From Internet For Free was helpful.