How Can You Remove Your Personal Information From the Internet?

These days, online privacy is a hot topic. More than ever, people want to know how you can remove your personal information from the internet. A sharp increase in data breaches is also fueling this interest.

 

The presence of personal information on the internet increases opportunities for financial fraud, reputational damage and identity fraud. This makes it imperative to consult an online reputation specialist and determine how to regain control of your information. Adopting a proactive approach for protecting your data and reputation is more important than ever.

 

ORM agencies provide wide-ranging solutions to significantly reduce the risk of reputation or financial damage. Such agencies help minimize the amount of sensitive personal information appearing online.

 

In doing so, they help reduce the threat of privacy violations and negative information to your online image.

 

What types of personal information should I worry about?

The internet hosts a staggering amount of information. It also offers a growing number of ways to post content. This trend has resulted in the exposure of all kinds of personal information.

 

Because of this, many individuals end up with sensitive personal details appearing in the public domain. And this exposure creates no end of risks.

 

Here are types of sensitive personal information often appearing on search engines, people-finder websites and social platforms:

 

• Contact information
• Confidential medical data
• Banking details like credit card numbers
• Account long credentials
• Government-issued identification numbers

 

Sensitive personal details often attract criminals looking to buy the information from data broker sites. Some information may fall into the wrong hands due to data breaches, browsing data, social media exposure or data brokers. Your data may then appear on the dark web or search engines like Google.

 

But on the plus side, you can seek a reputation management company’s assistance to begin a removal request. Google offers a way to request personal data removal from search engine results pages (SERPs).

 

Unfortunately, the chances of removing info outright are still slim. This is because Google tries to balance online privacy and neutrality with the public interest. Thankfully, ORM companies can either help you remove or, in the worst-case scenario, suppress the undesirable web search results. When handled correctly, suppression hides the information by pushing the offending web pages lower on the search results pages.

 

Removing public records

Increased access to public records creates numerous privacy and security issues. This is mainly because much of that information is legally published online.

 

The law allows the publication of the records for the greater public good. Yet, many people object to the visibility of this kind of information. Hence, they reach out to online reputation management agencies to find ways to reduce the amount of data available to the public.

 

States permit and prohibit the publication of different types of records across the internet. Some of the public records include:

 

• Property ownership information
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings
• Arrest information
• Court records
• Occupational licenses
• Voter registration data
• Driver’s license details
• Death, marriage, and birth records
• Tax information

 

These records feature a lot of personal information. Luckily, you can take steps to mitigate the threats this info poses to your online reputation. Depending on your state, authorities may agree to seal your sensitive records. This is particularly true when that sensitive data places you at the risk of harm.

 

Additionally, sealing is an option if you are a stalking or domestic abuse victim or have a juvenile arrest record. Alternatively, you can request to redact some records. And with an ORM specialist’s help, you may ask data brokers to delete your sensitive personal data.

 

What’s more: some public records don’t require a street address, allowing you to replace the address with a postal box number. Additionally, you may mask your primary phone number by using a dedicated number for the records.

 

Proven ways to delete your details from the internet

With the help of an experienced ORM firm, you will find it much easier to delete info from search engines, people finder directories, social media, e-commerce sites, and other data broker sites.

 

Many struggle with how to remove your personal information from the internet. Failure to remove or suppress the visibility of personal information often happens because they chose to go it alone.

 

Remove yourself from social media

Your presence on social media is key to improving and growing your digital footprint. Social platforms host a vast amount of user data that is visible to most users. And much of that information ends up on search engines, people finder sites and other platforms.

 

Managing your social media information is vital for reining in your online presence. To achieve this, you can either reduce your information or delete your accounts altogether.

 

Sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter make it fairly easy to remove information or close your account. Once you delete your account, your data becomes unavailable to other users, often in less than a month’s time.

 

Delete personal information from people finder websites

People finder sites collect a large amount of personal data. They harvest this data from various sources, including government sites and social media. These platforms then provide access to the data for a fee, selling it to anyone with an internet connection.

 

An experienced online reputation management company helps delete personal details from people finder sites. Some data brokers provide opt-out pages, but the process can be cumbersome. A trusted ORM firm, however, provides personal information removal services and ongoing monitoring to prevent the re-appearance of your data online.

 

Legal options for forcing the platforms to take down your information depend on your state. If you live in California, for instance, you can submit data deletion requests to multiple data collection websites at once

 

Remove personal details from e-commerce sites

E-commerce sites typically store customer information. To learn more about how can you remove your personal information from the internet, including online shops, visit the sites in question. Amazon, eBay, and other retailers allow you to request deletion of your sensitive data.

 

If you cannot locate a link for removal, speak with the e-commerce site’s customer support team. You can then have your buyer account deleted or deactivated.

 

Delete data from forum posts and discussions

Many people forget to remove information in comment sections, forum posts, and discussion boards. Although removing this type of information may prove a challenge, you can hire an ORM company to achieve the desired outcome.

 

Website owners or webmasters often cite the terms and conditions for rejecting removal requests. However, reputation management experts utilize effective solutions to ensure the removal of user content on such platforms.

 

Deactivate redundant email accounts

If you have old email accounts, consider deactivating them. Many may contain sensitive personal information. And by deactivating these accounts, you eliminate the possibility of a future breach exposing your information.

 

Removing personal information directly from websites

A trusted ORM team reaches out to third-party sites to request removal of your sensitive personal data. Whether the information is on a blog, magazine, or other platform, you can rely on ORM agencies to remove or suppress it.

 

In some cases, a simple email or message allows you to communicate directly with the webmaster or website owner. If the website does not provide contact details, an online reputation management consultant can conduct thorough research to reach the webmaster.

 

Whois details or a web host may reveal the website owner, enabling the ORM specialist to discuss the removal of your information with the concerned party. However, getting in touch with the owner or webmaster does not guarantee success. Some webmasters demand payment for taking down the content.

 

If these measures do not achieve the desired objective, the reputation management company can request search engines to delist the offending web page. In the event that the search engines decline the request from the ORM agency, you can ask the agency to suppress the page from search results.

 

Remove personal information from Google

Google allows internet users to request the removal of web pages that infringe its policies, the law, or your rights. Once the tech giant de-indexes the concerned page, it will stop appearing on search results.

 

To qualify for removal, your request should relate to the following types of personal information:

 

• Sexually explicit images or videos
• Images of hand-written signatures
• Credit card numbers or other financial details
• Personal medical records
• Government-issued identity numbers

 

With the support of an online reputation management firm, you can make informed decisions about how can you remove your personal information from the internet. Most ORM companies work closely with lawyers and other partners to provide a comprehensive service. To discuss your specific reputation requirements or personal information removal needs, contact us today.