The emergence of the Internet has greatly facilitated our lives. The digital revolution has marked an era and transformed the way we relate and communicate. But this virtual world in which we show ourselves with naive confidence through social networks, blogs, forums, etc., has its face and its cross. It makes us vulnerable users normally unaware that we share our data with a large, anonymous and timeless large audience.
We provide the network with much more personal information than we can imagine. Only the fact of registering on a page forces us to include our personal data . If we think about the number of times we have given our data to access an online site or download a document, we get an idea of the amount of information we have provided and how we have helped to disseminate it. Our personal information is surfing the Internet freely available to many.
For this reason, more and more users decide to delete personal and professional data from the network. But is it possible to erase my information completely? If possible. But it is a laborious task that takes time and does not guarantee that the absolute totality of your data disappears, although it gives you the peace of mind that most of the most relevant information about you will only belong to the physical world.
Here are a series of steps to achieve this goal:
1. Remove your information from search engines
Both Google and most of the major search engines, Yahoo, Bing, etc., give you the possibility to delete your personal information , as long as a series of requirements that companies have previously established are met. For example, in the case of Google, elimination is possible provided that the person's privacy rights prevail over the interest raised by said results. Google provides an online form to carry out the process and also gives the option to do it on behalf of someone. The rest of search engines also provide information to the user to do so, such as Bing and Yahoo .
There are currently judicial sentences that have established a precedent, such as a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that requires search engines to eliminate the search results of users who claim it , and always under certain circumstances that support it.
2. Delete personal information from a site or websites
Once we have eliminated the search engine result, the next step is to remove the information from the specific website or websites. We must contact the site or company directly, and explain our request, detailing the content we want to remove . The company has a maximum period of ten days to respond. If they do not resolve our request, we can file a complaint with the Spanish Agency for Data Protection, based on the Organic Law on Data Protection (LOPD) , which allows us to access, rectify, cancel or modify our data (ARCO rights: access, rectification , cancellation and opposition).
3. Delete social media accounts
Possibly the most likely channel to disseminate information in the fastest and uncontrolled way . Search engines are usually the first thing they index. If we do not have an Internet presence, the first thing to do is delete all social media accounts , or at least disable them. Simply enter the profile and look for the option to delete or deactivate. If there is any specific content that we wish to remove, we must contact the customer service of each one. A small list of the most common: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr; not forgetting the sites associated with them like Hootsuite, TweetDeck, etc.
4. Delete email accounts
To delete them you just have to enter settings and press the option to delete, delete or deactivate account. Depending on the mail server, the procedure will have peculiarities, but in general they all work in a similar way.
5. Delete other accounts
We not only have accounts in social networks, but also in any online service we have used. To get rid of those accounts, you have to go to the account settings and look for the option to deactivate, delete or close the account. Some examples: Amazon, PayPal, AliExpress, Ebay, Wallapop, Airbnb, online stores (Zara, Mango ...); all accounts related to the game and bets; and also those of appointments like Tinder or Meetic; accounts for free or paid courses; Alumni accounts, communities, events, etc.
6. Unsubscribe from newsletters, newsletters or similar
Upon receiving the email there must be a mandatory option, by law, that allows you to unsubscribe .
7. Remove the personal sites you created
During your digital life it is likely that you have created your own online sites and that some probably do not even remember. We are talking about personal blogs, forums like Yahoo Groups, etc.
8. Track your information online
You may have forgotten an account or website where you have registered. There are two ways to verify it: write your name in the search engine in quotes, all the sites that contain the most relevant information about you will appear . Another way is to write your email in the search engine, since it is usually what most of the websites ask you to register.
9. Companies selling personal data
There are companies that collect information from users that are on the network and then sell it to other companies. You can claim that your data be withdrawn directly to those companies.
10. Companies specializing in deleting personal information
There are companies that are dedicated to removing personal or professional information from users from the network. For an affordable price they make all kinds of requests: delete your name in search engines, personal information in the media, in state newsletters, comments on social networks, videos and photographs and any related content. If you want to erase your trail completely it may be the most appropriate option.
