Keep Your Info Secret From Internet Search Engines
In today's modern world people often worry about identity theft
. Go right now to any of the top Internet search engines and simply type your name into the search bar along with your city and state. You may be shocked as to how much information is already available about yourself online. Spend some time looking at these results to see if there is anything available to the general public that could be used to steal your identity. More than likely there is more than enough information there for a thief to put together a package or credit application using much of your personal information.
One of the best ways to prevent this from happening in the first place is to consider each and every time you input information into a webpage. For example, if a website is asking for detailed information such as your phone number or address or other pertinent information like your occupation or where you went to school, (which people could use to find persons) reconsider whether to give that information. Although it may not be customary on many sites, there are some that will eventually have this information indexed in some way or shape or form which then ends up indexed in one of the major search engines if not all three of them. Always check with the site's terms of service to make sure they promise to keep your info secret.
Although the forms we fill-in with this information are often on secure websites, the databases that this information goes into often is shared with other entities and eventually that data becomes public information. Once your public information is out there it is extremely difficult to retrieve it. Because this information shows up on individual and private websites it is all but impossible for you as a private citizen to have it removed. Many of these websites are on servers in foreign countries which you will have no access to or recourse in any legal way.
Again, it is far best to eliminate the introduction of your personal data onto the Internet in the first place. Be very careful about the places you input the information and to make sure that all the locations are secure and guarantee your privacy. There are companies that specialize in having private information removed from all sorts of websites and for keeping people from finding persons. These can be found online but are quite expensive to use. Usually, common sense is enough to prevent too much personal information from being leaked onto the Internet.