Any tips on reducing/erasing your digital footprint?

Hey everybody I was wondering if anyone could provide any tips or sources of info. Anything will be appreciated. :)

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Start selfhosting.
Most of the most useful services can be easily selfhosted. And that's an incredible amount of info that stays at home
- Can Confirm. Hosting my Cloud Storage, Photo Storage, Music Streaming, Social Media and Video Streaming at home
  
  I need to get into this for sure :D. I know it’s time consuming but I really liked going through setting up my own Ubuntu server for Minecraft

You can start by looking up your name on major search engines and delete social accounts that are yours, and for the people search websites some of them have opt outs but most are really annoying and don’t comply (in my experience)
Consider using a privacy respecting browser like Firefox with the extension uBlock origin. Keep it to a max of two other extensions because it makes your browser more identifiable.
Consider using open source software over closed source software (just because it’s open source doesn’t mean it’s always safe)
For email I use proton mail and I’ve been very happy with it along with there other stuff.
As some other people have mentioned, self hosting is a good option if you have the time for it, and a spare computer laying around.

Depending on where you live, you can request data removal and they are supposed to oblige.
Never create an account unless it is seriously necessary.
Delete old content.
https://justdeleteme.xyz/ has direct links for removing your accounts. You can also make requests to places like archive.org to have things removed.
- Thanks a ton.

My advice would be to take things gradually. This endeavor can be a bit overwhelming if you're one to hyperfixate.

In addition to the other comment, for places and things where you cannot delete yourself, or where you cannot avoid tracking even if you do, you can use stuff like

, which sends out random queries to hide your actual interactions. Got my interest profile on Google completely generic after a few months.
- TrackMeNot is a neat idea. Doesn't look maintained but if it still works go for it!
  Alternative search engines like Mojeek are a good idea too.

I would look to someone such as Michael Bazzell, he has a great podcast "the privacy, security and OSINT show. He offers loads of information on privacy and can advise on what you are looking for. Check his website : https://inteltechniques.com/index.html

@solarzones I can recommend the book “Beginner’s Introduction to Privacy” by Naomi Brockwell and Michael Bazzell’s work at Intel Tecniques.
https://www.nbtv.media/beginnersintrotoprivacy
https://inteltechniques.com/index.html

12 comments