Every time someone clicks a website or tries to search finally posts something on social media, an online record is made. Thus, since FastPeopleSearch somehow digitally stores all these individuals’ personal details from different sources, cutting the queries, does digital privacy really exist? The brief answer: Total deletion is nearly impossible, but certainly much of it can be reduced with the right strategies.
Your digital footprint is likely much bigger than you think. It includes everyday, obvious things, such as posts made on social media and online purchases, but it also consists of some hidden traces, like browsing history, location data, and even information gathered from data brokers. Knowing exactly what makes up this footprint is your first step to better online privacy.
Understanding Your Digital Footprint
Your digital footprint consists of two main categories: active and passive data trails.
Active footprints include sharing information deliberately on the internet, social media posts, blog comments, online reviews, and registrations to accounts. These footprints can be controlled expressly through your actions
Passive footprints are those footprints that are formed without your consent or knowledge. For example, these can include your IP addresses that are logged by some websites, cookies that track your browsing, applications on your mobile devices that trace your location, and the information that has been compiled by data brokers from public records and online activities into searchable databases.
The amount is overwhelming. Each visit to a website creates its own log files. Email services save the messages indefinitely. Cloud storage maintains deleted files in backup systems. Even private browsing leaves traces in your internet service provider’s servers.
The Illusion of Deletion
Some substantial technical and other obstacles must be resolved before achieving true digital deletion. Deleting a social media post does not result in its immediate disappearance from the company’s servers, which could sustain for anything from weeks to months before being wiped from their backup systems altogether.
Search engines have a way of caching web pages, thus preserving snapshots of content even when the original source has already removed it. Over 735 billion web pages have been archived by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine since 1996. Your information could also have been scraped and published by other sites through list crawling, an automated form of faultless web scraping that extracts specific information from web pages and databases.
Now, there are data brokers. These companies collect data from public records, social media, and online sources into detailed profiles for marketing and background-checking services. Cleaning up your records with one broker doesn’t stop other brokers from collecting the same information from other sources.
International data storage adds another twist. Your data might reside on the servers of multiple countries with different privacy laws and data retention policies.
Steps to Minimize Your Digital Footprint
While complete erasure remains elusive, these practical steps can significantly reduce your online visibility:
- Audit existing accounts: Ascertain an exhaustive list of online accounts, including long-forgotten social media profiles, shopping sites, and subscription services. Use tools like Have I Been Pwned to verify if any of your emails show up in data breaches.
- Delete unnecessary accounts: Terminate all accounts that you do not use anymore. Many a time, services hide their account deletion options; thus, search for “[Service Name] delete account” to get the specific instructions.
- Review privacy settings: Configure privacy settings on the remaining accounts to minimise the scope of data collection and public visibility. Most platforms amend their privacy policies regularly; hence, it is prudent to review these settings at the start of each quarter.
- Request data removal: Get in touch with data brokers directly to ask for the removal of your data from their databases. This requires perseverance, as several companies purposely make removal an arduous mission.
- Use privacy-focused alternatives: You can switch to DuckDuckGo for searching, Signal for sending texts, and Proton for emails, as they respect user privacy.
Essential Security Measures for Online Privacy
Implementing robust security measures protects both your current data and prevents future privacy breaches:
| Protection Measure | Description | Benefit |
| Strong, Unique Passwords | Use combinations of upper/lower case, numbers, symbols. Change periodically. | Prevents unauthorized access to accounts. |
| Avoid Oversharing on Social Media | Limit posting personal details like location, birthday, etc. | Reduces risk of identity theft and targeted attacks. |
| Secure Wi-Fi Networks | Prefer password-protected networks over public Wi-Fi for sensitive activities. | Protects data from interception on unsecured networks. |
| Vigilant Email Habits | Watch for spelling errors, unusual addresses in links and attachments. | Avoids phishing scams and malware. |
| Website Security Checks | Ensure “https” and a lock symbol are present before entering info. | Verifies secure transmission of personal data. |
| Security Software | Install anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall software. | Provides additional layers of defense against cyber threats. |
| Cyber Insurance | Cover fraudulent charges and resources for recovery. | Offers financial protection and support after a cyberattack. |
Password managers eliminate the challenge of remembering multiple complex passwords while ensuring each account has unique credentials. Popular options include Bitwarden, 1Password, and Dashlane.
Two-factor authentication adds an extra security layer to your accounts. Even if someone obtains your password, they’ll need access to your phone or authentication app to complete login attempts.
Legal and Ethical Considerations
They diverge a lot concerning the location. For instance, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR, allows an individual to have the right to be forgotten and consider requesting deletion of his or her personal data in certain circumstances. The Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, in California also gives similar protections to residents of that state.
This is not the end of the line, however. Not all types of data are covered, and corporations can deny requests on a number of legitimate grounds to maintain the information, such as regulatory requirements or deterring fraudulent use.
There are also ethics at stake here. While it is your right to manipulate your own information, trying to erase valid public records or information pertaining to business transactions raises different types of ethical concerns about openness and accountability.
Taking Control of Your Digital Privacy
Ultimate digital footprint erasure is and will continue to be a technical impossibility, due to various hard-to-contain areas like data retention practices, international storage, and interconnectedness among online services. But one cannot just leave everything on digital tracking.
Firstly, you should conduct a privacy audit of your online presence. Delete accounts that are no longer useful; tighten the security settings; and implement strong security measures. Consider this as an ongoing process, not a one-time task; digital privacy attracts consistent attention and maintenance.
Erasure is not the goal but rather some meaningful control over your information. Much of your online privacy can therefore be improved by learning how your digital footprint forms in the first place and by taking active steps to manage it.