As the new year of 2013 starts the technology hounds and hackers are busy with the next thing for Calgarians to be aware of or block as the case may be. Scrubbing your online tracks is an important thing to know especially if there is sensitive information that is attached to Calgarians bank, family, stocks, mobile phones and credit card related activities.
Cancel ALL online mailing Lists: Mail could include: Sephora in Calgary updates, Shoppers Drug Mart mailers and so on. This is fairly clear-cut as usually the method for unsubscribing is in the body of each email, often with a direct link. Follow the individual instructions given by the company. If you cannot find such instructions- contact the site administrators directly.
Check with your phone company to make sure you're not listed online: Telus, Rogers, Bell and other mobile companies can be sneaky and slip your number on a public listing. When or if you find your number online ask them to remove your details completely. If those telco’s have any other customer databases that might cause your name and details to be online ask to be removed from these as well.
Stay well-mannered: Though you may well be inspired by anger, distresses, or crossness you would do better to not let this come across in your communications contacting website managers. If you're looking for a name deletion because you're job searching or cleaning up your online personal self- tell them your immediate issues at least that let them know you have a genuine reason for being upset or agitated. There is an escalation process for most companies- follow that process for more action.
The next bits and pieces of removing your online self, in some cases, cannot be undone very easily. When you think about removing your online self-make sure you know the back out process if you’re not sure. In some cases, like Facebook, you can “delete” yourself on that platform but not from the system.
Remove and Delete personal sites: If you have Blog sites or professional web sites you’ll need to remove and delete these from the internet. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Single nonattached (like Google with blogger) Blogs- If you had a popular blog, remember that oddments of it are probably already scattered throughout the internet. Unfortunately- There’s nothing you can do about these. Blogs within sites- Many sites offer blogs as part of joining such as Google don't forget these if you have started any.
Groups like: Yahoo Groups etc. - The ability to shut these down maybe reliant on the participation of others. Contact the Administrator of these sites and complete removal process as they state.
Delete search engine returns that include you: Complete searches on deviations of your name or online profiles to unearth anything you have forgotten about and remove it manually. Note: some search engines also cache old sites, pages, and information (including any associations of you) that have since changed or been deleted. On some occasions you will need to contact search engines directly for the complicated removals. Reality Check: removing yourself from search engines can be in-depth work that from time to time involves paperwork in the real world (IE: faxes, death certificates and others to prove who you are).
Consider using a professional company to remove your details from the internet: If contacting the myriad search engines one-by-one overwhelms you (and it is a very daunting prospect), you might be able to use a professional service to do the work for you.
Deleting you email account: If you need to delete your account- follow the instructions that the email provider says to do to complete the removal.
Realize that there may be some things that you cannot do anything about. In that instance- it is almost certainly best to just accept that reality as you move on and shrug it off. This is not an exhaustive list; however one to get you started. Life on the internet as in real life is unpredictable and we can only do so much.
