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The issue of internet privacy and security is increasingly shifting from a fingers-crossed “it won’t happen to me” dynamic to one in which virtually everyone has either had their identity stolen, their information exposed in a massive hack, or knows someone who has. In light of this, people are getting better about not having predictable passwords and being sure only to give payment information to secure sites and the like.

Unfortunately, there are a number of ways in which internet use can leave anyone vulnerable to hacks and information exposure. Do you have a social media account that you use or, perhaps more importantly, that you don’t? Do you know how to remove personal information from Google? How familiar are you with your workplace’s privacy policy? Getting the answers and solutions to these questions (at least) could save you a whole lot of grief.

Online Profiles You’ve Stopped Using

There’s no other entity that inspires billions of people to willingly share their personal information, workplace, whereabouts, interests, appearance, habits, and often candid thoughts and opinions with, potentially, millions of other people than social networks. That makes them a dream come true for hackers, stalkers, identity thieves, privacy-ignoring corporations, and data brokers. As people come to recognize that, their social network use has often become more cautious and more guarded.

But what about that social network profile you set up years ago, maybe in high school or college—the one you haven’t looked at in years? What sort of pictures did you post there? What’s the likelihood that you made claims or shared opinions that would be an embarrassment to you now? And how would you feel about your friends, family, kids, coworkers, or boss reading them now? That’s the thing about the internet: anything you post there, however long ago, there’s a good chance it’s still there. The best practice is to delete any profiles that you no longer use to remove the risk of an account hack likely to go unnoticed, or your personal information being shared.

Defeating the Data Brokers

The previous section mentioned “data brokers.” Despite the brokering of data being a multi-billion dollar business, a lot of people are entirely unaware of it. While they may be aware that companies leverage their basic information, Google searches, and purchase history, etc. for advertising or research purposes, they would likely be shocked to find out just how personal and intimate much of the data collected by the data brokers is.

Thankfully, there are organizations out there that will remove personal information from Google for you. It’s also possible to look up the online data brokerages and manually request that they delete your information, though that can be a fairly tedious process. Fortunately, a reputable data removal organization can do it for you. The best of them will also offer a subscription service so that your personal information will remain private and stay removed year-round. Make sure they provide an accounting of the information they have deleted as well for added peace of mind.

Not Educating Yourself About Your Workplace’s Privacy Policy

Most workplaces are generally decent about it, but if you’re using hardware or devices paid for by the company, chances are that they are allowed to monitor you on it. The same usually goes for the use of a company’s software or networks on your own device. Your workplace may also have strict guidelines or policies around bringing your own device (BYOD), the networks or Wi-Fi connection you use, etc.

Educate yourself regarding your business’s privacy policy. There is always the possibility that even the most responsible, seemingly innocuous, best-practices and due-diligence compliant device or internet use may be violating rules you’re not fully aware of. And while being let go for any reason is miserable, being fired for what you thought was perfectly reasonable behavior while working hard is even worse.

About DeleteMe

Based in Boston, DeleteMe has established a national reputation as the premier private and personal information-protection organization. They have accomplished this by leveraging the expertise of their identity theft, consumer protection, and privacy teams to establish a comprehensive suite of privacy solutions that are both effective and user-friendly. If you’re concerned with password protection, payment security, removal from Whitepages, and whatever else protects security, personal and financial, you’ll find that DeleteMe is the preeminent security solution.

Guarantee that your information remains yours alone, at Joindeleteme.com

With the recent wave of high-profile data breaches, business hacks, private information dumps, and financial network intrusions, internet security and privacy have gotten quite a bit of press. A lot of the online security basics are pretty well known: Have strong passwords, don’t open email attachments sent by strangers, and chances are there’s not really a foreign princess waiting to enrich and possibly marry you if only you’d share your account information.

However, there are more specific privacy and security issues that can instigate misery, embarrassment, financial catastrophe, and even loss of your job. For instance, do you know your employer’s BYOD policy? Do you know how to remove personal information from Google? Do you know if your anti-virus/anti-malware software is up to date? The following list outlines some common internet security threats and mistakes and how those threats can be diminished or resolved with a bit of research and a little proactive risk mitigation.

Not Knowing (or Ignoring) Your Organization’s BYOD Policy

The bring your own device (BYOD) policy can vary 180 degrees from one company to the next. Many smaller (and larger) companies encourage employees using their own devices to work on either in-office or remotely. There are a number of benefits to BYOD. It’s convenient, generally more mobile, and people are often more comfortable on their own devices, to name a few.

However, a lot of organizations expressly forbid the using of personal devices due to security risks. Often personal devices will have a lower level of protection than dedicated company devices and using them can put private, sensitive, proprietary, personal, and financial data at risk. Which means that using those devices, even if nothing bad happens, can sometimes get you fired. If you don’t know your company’s BYOD policy, find out. Ask a manager, and if they don’t know it, they’ll know who will.

Dealing with the Data Brokers

Despite data brokering being a multi-billion dollar business, the average person knows next to nothing about data brokers. Every time you do a Google search, or really use the internet at all, data brokers are collecting your information. Those data brokers are organizations that scour and scrape the internet for information about you. Some of it is pretty innocuous, like your name, birthday, age, sex, etc. While some of it is incredibly personal. They buy and sell that information largely for corporate advertising and demographic analysis.

Beyond strangers knowing, buying, and selling your most intimate personal details being creepy, it definitely represents what most people would consider a pretty profound breach of privacy and can be used for nefarious purposes. Fortunately, there are services and organizations you can contract with to remove personal information from Google.

Adding Bosses and Coworkers as Friends on Social Media

Even if your boss and coworkers are the most fun, most laid-back people imaginable, it’s just not a great idea to “friend” them on social media networks. If you’re curious why, look up the case of the teacher who, while on vacation in Europe, posted to her profile a seemingly innocuous picture of herself holding alcohol. She was fired for it.

The picture had been protected with a privacy setting on “high,” leading to the conclusion that it had to be a “friend” from work who had emailed the shot to the school board. Even if you don’t believe that any of your work friends would report you, do keep in mind that any number of posts, pictures, claims, friends’ comments, etc. can put coworkers and definitely bosses in uncomfortable and unfortunate positions. Sometimes unfortunate enough that they are obligated to let you go.

About DeleteMe

Based in Boston, DeleteMe has established a national reputation as the premier private and personal information-protection organization. They have accomplished this by leveraging the expertise of their identity theft, consumer protection, and privacy teams to establish a comprehensive suite of privacy solutions that are both effective and user-friendly. If you’re concerned with password protection, payment security, removal from Whitepages, and whatever else protects security, personal and financial, you’ll find that DeleteMe is the preeminent security solution.

Guarantee that your information remains yours alone, at Joindeleteme.com

Original Source: https://goo.gl/mmBbBm

Data brokers collect and store personal information on nearly every U.S. consumer. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that a single data broker company has information on 1.4 billion consumer transactions, totaling over 700 billion data points and 3,000 data segments for nearly every American consumer.
But what information are data brokers collecting?

You’ve likely heard of companies collecting personal information such as name, address, age, and e-mail. You may also have heard about data brokers collecting information on voting registration, purchasing history, criminal records, or vehicle registration.

However, data brokers can go much further than this.

They also collect information on “life-event triggers,” including marriage, divorce, births, deaths, and even buying a home. They also collect salary information, paystub data, and charitable donations. This information is then sold to companies and marketing agencies to help them target their advertising more effectively.

For example, a home warranty company could purchase a list of new homeowners to target their home warranty sales or advertisements. Companies pay a lot of money for this information, and there’s a pretty good reason why: By one estimate, a data brokerage division of a company adds more than 290,000 records on new homeowners each month.

These companies don’t just collect information, they use it to make inferences about you and place you into consumer groups. The FTC explains these topics can include assumptions such as “dog owners” or “romance novel readers,” or more sensitive categories such as “interested in diabetes” or “low educational attainment and low net worth.”

The FTC explains that these categories can put consumers at risk without the consumer knowing about it. The report reveals, “While data brokers have a data category for ‘Diabetes Interest’ that a manufacturer of sugar-free products could use to offer product discounts, an insurance company could use that same category to classify a consumer as higher risk.”

Experts, including the FTC, explain that while there are steps consumers can take to remove personal information from Google, there is very little individuals can do to stop data broker companies from collecting data and selling it for marketing purposes.

According to the FTC: “Broker practices have grown dramatically in breadth and depth, as data brokers have the ability to collect information from more sources, including consumers’ online activities; analyze it through new and emerging algorithms and business models; and store the information indefinitely due to dwindling storage costs. Despite the Commission’s recommendations, lack of transparency and choice remain significant issues in this industry.”

This lack of transparency leaves consumers largely in the dark about what information is being collected and how it is being used.

That’s where companies like DeleteMe come in. DeleteMe works to remove your personal information from data broker websites, which then reduces your online profile in Google and other search engines. Additionally, if you’re seeking removal from Whitepages and other sites that store your address or phone number, DeleteMe works swiftly to erase your personal information.

About DeleteMe

DeleteMe empowers people to control how their personal information is accessed and shared online. The subscription service removes details like names, addresses, and phone numbers from websites such as PeopleFinders, Spokeo, and DexKnows, in order to help clients remove personal information from Google and aid in removal from Whitepages.

For more information, visit Joindeleteme.com




Original Source: https://goo.gl/p7a4z8

We’ve all heard the horror stories of what can happen when the wrong people get their hands on your personal information: false credit card charges, fraudulent bank withdrawals, and stolen identities.

If you’re concerned about your personal information, it’s not enough to simply block pop-up ads or delete browser cookies. You may want to consider ways to remove personal information from Google altogether.

There are many professional services available to help manage your online presence. However, if you’re cost-conscious, there are also several free options you can try to eliminate your online information.

Option 1: Delete Online Accounts

The websites that make our lives easier¾think Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, Facebook, etc.¾also store a lot of our personal information, including full name, email, date of birth, address, etc.

Deleting these accounts, especially the ones you don’t use anymore, is an easy step toward removing your online profile. Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, and Facebook each have different instructions for deleting your account, so be prepared to spend some time going through each site.

Option 2: Delete at the Source

While Google might be displaying your personal information, a different site most likely owns the file. If you have posted content on blog sites or created an account to comment on a news story, that original website holds the information.

It might be arduous, but your best bet is to go back to that original site and delete your account or content at the source.

Option 3: Contact the Offenders

It is very likely that you will need to contact data brokers¾the companies that find, aggregate, and sell your personal information. While it sounds daunting, there are some free but time-consuming steps you can take to facilitate your information’s removal from Whitepages and other data broker sites.

It’s important to note that each data broker company sets up a different opt-out process.

One way to opt-out? Contact them by phone or e-mail. This method might take seven to ten business days to delete your information, but it is relatively easy to do.

Another method: Determine if the company has an opt-out form. This still might take two to three business days, but it is also relatively easy.

A third option: Create an account. This might sound counter-intuitive if you’re trying to eliminate your online presence, but by creating an account and verifying your information you can then file a claim within a data broker’s system, requesting your information be removed. This method creates an official claim with the data broker and can lead to your information being removed almost immediately.

A final option: Turn to the professionals. It’s not free, but DeleteMe is in the business of protecting and removing your personal information. They know the companies to target and can take the stress and time of of managing online privacy off of your shoulders.

About DeleteMe

DeleteMe empowers people to control how their personal information is accessed and shared online. The subscription service removes details like names, addresses, and phone numbers from websites such as PeopleFinders, Spokeo, and DexKnows, in order to help clients remove personal information from Google.

For more information, visit Joindeleteme.co


Original Source: https://goo.gl/NwgPJ4

There is an entire industry out there committed to gathering and selling your personal information. They operate with almost no regulation, and many individuals aren’t even aware of their existence or how their information is being used.

Data brokers, as they’re known, use your ambivalence to their advantage. They gather the information you provide via the internet and daily life, regularly. They collect your personal information from a variety of nonpublic and public sources: forms you fill out while shopping online, your social media, the interactions you have with public institutions (weddings, deaths, registration of your vehicles, etc.) all end up producing information about you. Fortunately, there is a way to remove personal information from Google.

According to the The New York Times, one data broker’s servers “process more than 50 trillion data ‘transactions’ a year. Company executives have said its database contains information about 500 million active consumers worldwide, with about 1,500 data points per person. That includes a majority of adults in the United States.” These mass amounts of information include the basics, such as your name, age, religion, address, ethnicity, occupation, and your level of education. In addition, they collect more detailed information that concern your preferences, medical histories, and major life events and credit-driven data. They know if you’ve purchased a home, gotten married, been divorced, or are putting your kid through university. After they gather this information, or buy it, then, they sell it to whoever has the funds and inclination to purchase it.

The good news is, regulations are starting to take effect that will aid in protecting you and your data, however, it is a slow process. The best way to remove personal information from Google and other sites that store your data is to hire a professional. They will scour the web for you and remove information as it repopulates, taking the hassle out of your hands and protecting you at the same time.

About DeleteMe

Based out of Boston, Abine is a privacy company on a mission to make the internet a better, safer environment while putting people back in control of their data. Led by consumer protection, privacy, and identity theft experts, they are passionate about making easy-to-use privacy solutions for everyday people. From removal from Whitepages to password and payment security they are here to help you navigate the convoluted thoroughfare that is the world wide web.

Get protected at Joindeleteme.com

Original Source: https://goo.gl/2xPRwT