Steps you can take to protect your online privacy
Whether you’re concerned about privacy breaches or simply want to maintain control over your online presence, in addition to the ways Apple works to protect users’ privacy, you can personally take steps to remove your personal information from the internet. The process can be time-consuming, but there are effective ways to minimize your digital footprint.
You can conduct a thorough search of your name across various search engines and social media platforms. Make note of any websites or profiles that display your personal details. Then reach out to these platforms and request that they remove your information. Many websites have dedicated privacy policies and procedures for such requests.
Also, consider opting out of data broker websites that aggregate and sell personal information. Data on broker websites can be used for people search, marketing, risk mitigation, and health purposes – or scams and phishing attempts. This can result in unwanted ads, influence loan eligibility or insurance rates, and increase the risk of attacks.
Data broker platforms often allow individuals to submit opt-out requests. But there are a lot of data broker companies. So that would be pretty labor-intensive and take a long time. Plus, you’d have to keep checking back, as data brokers can (and do) add you back into their databases.
An easy way to protect your personal information
There’s an easier way to tackle this challenge. You could reach out to a data removal service like Incogni, which offers an automated personal information removal service that will ferret out the data brokers most likely to be dealing in your personal data. It will then send out wave after wave of opt-out requests on your behalf.
