We have always heard people say that whatever you put on the internet can’t be removed and will always stay up. While that’s not entirely false, it’s far from the full picture. You might have experienced an old blog post or article come back into your life after a few years.
Maybe a family member stumbled across it, or a recruiter found it an interesting portrayal of your personality. This comes as a shock, but not as much as when you truly realise how much of your information is out there, waiting to be found. This exact scenario is becoming much more common and has many worried about how much of their personal data is out there. As a natural instinct to preserve privacy, many instantly turn to remove personal information from internet but are met with unexpected resistance. In light of this, here, we will cover how you can do this and make the internet forget.
Why the Internet ‘’Remembers’’
The internet has millions of stockpiles of data across various sites, from social media pages where individuals post images and information to data brokers that collect information from databases, trackers, and cookies. There is a lot of data, even yours, that has been collected and stored somewhere, even without your knowledge. Most individuals see their personal data on Google searches and think that it’s Google that collects all this personal data. However, Google simply identifies it from pages that store it and displays it in search results. This means that even if you remove this information from Google, it will still exist on a host domain.
There is also a human factor of personal information being available to the public. Many don’t consider that what they post and interact with is recorded and compiled into user profiles. There are also preservation tools that hold information indefinitely, making the internet less of a web of information that is tedious to remove.
Consequences of the Digital Memory
The memory of the internet is endless and very persistent in holding said information forever. In a perfect world, this would be a positive trait, but sadly, there are many cybercriminals who aim to leverage this data for their own benefit. Some of the most common consequences of personal data being publicly available are:
- Professional setbacks – Old posts, shared opinions, or images can have negative setbacks during job application processes or when meeting business partners. They can also be a point of personal embarrassment, especially if we have chosen to turn a new page in our lives.
- Privacy Risks – A lot of very private information finds its way to the internet, such as addresses or phone numbers. This most commonly happens from leaked resumes and breached job posting boards. These breaches usually make affected individuals targets of scammers, harassment, or even identity theft.
- Misinformation Longevity – Very often, the internet has outdated information about an individual that doesn’t paint an accurate picture of them. Be it from a rough time or a misunderstood incident, their preservation can significantly impact someone’s reputation.
All of these instances create uncomfortable situations and are breaches of privacy that no one should experience. Luckily, the internet can forget; it just takes a lot of effort to clean up all the personal information that is out there. But once we do, we have a fresh and malleable digital footprint that we can use to showcase only the necessary and positive information about us.
Making The Internet Forget
It is almost impossible to make the internet completely forget someone, but it is possible to minimize the personal information available. The manual process is fairly simple for nearly all kinds of data and involves following a few simple steps:
- Use Search Engine Removal Tools – Search engines like Google offer tools through which you can request data removal. However, it is important to note that these tools don’t delete the data but instead just prevent it from being crawled and indexed. As such, it stops appearing on search engine result pages. To remove it fully, you need to go to the website where it is found directly.
- Request Data Removal from Websites – If your data appears on third-party websites, you can simply send a data removal request. Everyone has the right to be forgotten and preserve their personal information. If the page doesn’t comply, you can always submit privacy complaints or a DMCA.
- Scrub Old Accounts – By tracking your old accounts and adjusting their settings to be more privacy-focused, you will also minimize a source of your data. Even if you have lost access to these accounts, you can request recovery or deletion processes to remedy the issue.
However, if all of this is too much of a time sink, you can always turn to data removal services to expedite the process. All of this, paired with a few privacy habits, will prevent future instances of personal information leaking to the public. By being mindful of what you post and limiting who can see it, you will clean up your digital footprint. While the effects of this hard work won’t be noticed immediately, they will pay off in the long run. You won’t have to worry about being blindsided by your personal information while browsing the web or going into a job interview.
