Here's how and why to delete your personal data from the internet

With data brokers making big money by selling your personal details, it’s never been easier for spammers and scanners to get access to your phone number, email address, physical address, and even sensitive data like your social security number.

Apple’s privacy protections help, of course, but if you want to get proactive about removing your existing personal data from the internet, it’s never been easier to do so …

Data brokers are companies whose business is buying and selling personal data. While they do grab headlines on rare occasions – as in the case of a major data breach – they mostly operate in the shadows.

Despite occasional talk of lawmakers or regulators intervening, data broking remains a perfectly legal business, taking advantage of the small-print we frequently agree to when registering to use a website or buying an app.

This not only makes your contact details available to spammers and scammers, but records of your online activity can also hurt your finances by impacting your credit score. That can affect everything from your eligibility for credit cards and loans to the rates you pay for your health insurance.

The law does allow you to opt out, but manually identifying all of the companies holding your data, and issuing removal requests, is an incredibly labor-intensive task. Fortunately, there’s a much easier solution.

Instead of you having to contact hundreds of different companies, jumping through whatever hoops they put in your way, you can outsource the work to data-removal service Incogni.

The company behind Surfshark does all the hard work for you, contacting more than 250 data brokers and people search sites on your behalf, and issuing demands for the removal of all of your personal details. No matter whether you are based in the US, Canada, UK, EU, or Switzerland, Incogni will use the relevant laws in each country when issuing its notices.

The results?

Subscribers can monitor the process (potential databases found, requests sent, requests completed) on their Incogni dashboard.

9to5Mac readers can keep their data off the market with a 1-year subscription at a 55% discounton both individual and family plans. Users can choose to add up to four loved ones to their Family & Friends plan. Users can add up to three phone numbers (US-based customers only), three emails, and three physical addresses.

Additionally,Incogni recently launched its Unlimited plan, which the company believes to be a game-changer in the world of data removal services. In addition to all the standard data brokers and people-finder sites, Unlimited subscribers can request custom removals from any website that exposes their personal data (with the exception of social media platforms, government records, blogs, and forums) – and dedicated privacy agents will take care of the rest. 

Exclusive reader pricing is:

Use the discount code 9TO5MAC at checkout to qualify. Sign up at Incogni’s website.