While Using the Internet

There is no way to completely remove all of your personal information from the Internet.  However, here are a few steps you can take to remove as much of it as you can.

First, you should try to delete as much of your personal information off the Internet as you can on your own.  You may want to write down all of the websites that contain any of your personal information (for example: Flickr, Facebook, an old blog, etc.) and go through and change your privacy settings or delete personal information that you do not want on the Internet.  If you are not sure where your information appears, you may want to use a search engine such as Google to enter your name and see what comes up.  Then you can go to those sites to see if your personal information is listed and delete it if you can.  For additional information about this please read our page on Safety with Social Media.

Second, if there are websites that contain some of your personal information that you cannot delete yourself, you can ask the person in charge of the site (the “webmaster”) to remove the information for you.  Most of the time you will be able to find a contact email address on the site and email the webmaster directly to request that the information be taken down.  If you can’t find the webmaster’s email address on the site, look for a phone number or mailing address and contact the website that way.  If it is not done the first time you request it, follow up and contact them again.