Log off from the internet, step by step

1. LOG OFF FROM THE INTERNET, STEP BY STEP
A 101 on removing your personal data from the Internet. But be warned: it’s a
painful exercise
Had enough of selfies, tweets, posts and searches? Tired of bots tracking and
predicting every move of yours? If you want to get back to being anonymous, here’s
how you can systematically delete personal information from the World Wide Web.
STEP 1: Target social media
Posts, photos, thoughts, tumblers,
tweets.... We have all posted endless numbers of things online on various social media
accounts. Start by deleting all these accounts: Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn,
Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube. All of them have the option to deactivate an account.
If you are still not able to figure out how to delete a particular social media account,
head to DeleteYourAccount.com, which tells you the process for 34 social media
accounts.
STEP 2: Get hold of other accounts
Remember that shopping site where you created an account because they had
an offer you just couldn’t resist? Or that food app which had promised a free dinner if
you signed up with them? Even that dating site you visited once? And that game you
played for a day and then forgot about? It’s time to go through your emails and list all
the obscure accounts you’ve created over the years. If you’re not sure, simply search
for your name and the usernames you use in Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search
engines. You may have forgotten the passwords or the account could have been
deactivated simply because you haven’t used it in a long time.
But if you really want to wipe that slate clean, you will need to reset the
password, sign in to reactivate the account, and then proceed to delete it. Most of the
online companies allow you to deactivate, but there’s no guarantee that all of them
will actually delete all the data they have collected about you, says Thejesh G.N., a
Bengaluru-based technologist and co-founder of DataMeet, a community of open-data

2. enthusiasts. “Unfortunately, in India we don’t have any legal option to demand that
the personal data be deleted by the online or telecommunication company,” he says.
This is why the other steps that follow are important.
STEP 3: Unsubscribe mailing lists
There was a time before social media when we used to subscribe to the
newsletters of different websites. You might still be old-fashioned and get emails
from Google and Yahoo groups and various forums, as well as from associations and
sundry accounts that you have subscribed to. Go through your Inbox, Spam and Junk
folders and methodically unsubscribe from each of these groups.
STEP 4: Dumb down your phone
Every app that you downloaded on your smartphone collects some kind of
data about you. “Apps send off location, geo-tags, your search patterns, contacts, and
sometimes even read your messages,” says Rakshit Tandon, cyber-security consultant
with the Internet and Mobile Association of India, who does workshops with
law-enforcement agencies on Internet security.
The ideal way is to remove the Internet factor—switch off 2G, 3G and 4G and
use your smartphone only to make calls. If you don’t want to switch off the World
Wide Web completely, start by controlling the apps. Uninstall the apps you don’t
require and haven’t used for a while. Then head to the app websites and delete your
personal account from there. Simply uninstalling the app won’t delete your personal
information from the company’s servers.
If you want to make sure personal data is removed by the app owners, email
the webmasters of the companies running these apps and ask them to erase your
personal content. If you don’t want to uninstall the app from the phone, make sure
you know what permissions each of these apps is using. In most phones, you can head
to App Settings and you’ll know what all you’ve said yes to. Switch off the
permissions you don’t want to give, or uninstall if the app refuses to work without
these.
STEP 5: Remove search engine results
Would you want your name to vanish from search engine results? If the
answer is yes, then most of the search engines let you remove certain links—which
come up when you search your name—that might be harming your reputation.
However, if the mention is not harming your reputation in any way or isn’t a
copyright infringement or harassment, as decided by the search engine company, it
might be hard to get a search engine to remove links about you. In that case, click on
each of the links, head to the individual websites that are using your name in news,

3. mentions, or listings, and email each webmaster of these websites, requesting them to
remove mentions about you from their sites.
STEP 6: Become browser-anonymous
When you next want to go online and search, make sure you do it
anonymously. By default, most browsers track your activity. Opt for Incognito modes
in the browser. Enable Privacy Badger (www.eff.org/privacybadger; free for Chrome
and Firefox) to make sure cookies are disabled and third-party trackers are not
secretly seeing what you check online. Install AdBlock Plus (Adblockplus.org; free
on Firefox, Chrome and Safari) to block banner ads, pop-up ads, tracking cookies and
scripts.
Another thing you can do is make sure you have opted out of Google
Analytics tracking. Go to Tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout and opt out. If you like
anonymity but do want to browse, consider the open-source anonymous Tor Project
(Torproject.org), which lets you browse online and communicate with others without
tracking you.
STEP 7: Reinvent
Some online companies don’t delete information on their servers even if you
delete your account with them. In that case, give misleading information, like the
wrong birth date, name, surname, age, profile photos, etc. Replace all genuine content
with fake content. Then, the information in the company’s account will not harm you.
STEP 8: Contact the webmaster
As mentioned, in the case of websites that have information about you but
don’t have a way for you to delete it, you can always write emails to webmasters,
requesting them to erase the information. If they don’t pay heed, you can go to court.
But remember, court jurisdiction is applicable only for unlawful acts, breach of
confidentiality and copyright infringements, says Mishi Choudhary, legal director at
the Software Freedom Law Center, which has offices in New York, US, and New
Delhi. By clicking on the “I accept” button and using the website, you have already
entered into a contract with the company wherein the company collects data about
you, so be prepared for the company to refuse to delete your data. Legally, they might
be covered, says Choudhary.
STEP 9: Delete your emails
Log into all the email accounts you have signed up for and deactivate them.
This needs to be the last activity as you will need your email ID for all the steps
mentioned above.

4. Now that you have all the free time in the world, head out into the sunlight and
figure out how you will utilize it.