In today’s ever-evolving digital world, protecting your privacy may seem like an impossible task.

But before you begin incorporating methods that will help protect your personal privacy, it is important to note the stark differences between protecting privacy and becoming fully anonymous. Short of living on a deserted island, it is nearly impossible to become fully anonymous. However, when you incorporate the best practices of personal privacy in your life, it is possible to maintain a level of privacy that can act as a barrier between yourself and the rest of the world.

Google Yourself

When you become conscious of the fact that you need to increase your personal privacy, the best place to start is on the Internet. Since Google is the world’s most popular search engine, you should begin by Googling your name alongside your city, state or country in order to see what is publically listed about you online. You might be alarmed at what you find within these search results.

Websites such as Peekyou, MyLife and other people-finding services buy up information from companies that you have associated with in the past. This data enables these companies to build a profile on you that is sold to whoever wishes to buy it. Websites such as MyLife may list your name, age, location and closest relatives publically for the world to see. When someone wishes to dig even deeper, they can pay a nominal fee which will provide them with your address, your phone number and even your past or current employer. With a few keystrokes and a couple of clicks, someone could know all about you and your family without ever meeting face to face.

What can you do to combat this gross intrusion of your family’s privacy? The proactive solution is easy. When registering for online services that do not require any form of payment, simply sign up for a “junk” email account and use that email account alongside a fictitious name and mailing address in order to complete the registration process. If you would like to get more advanced, you could rent a mailbox at the post office and list this address as your mailing address for websites that legitimately need your real location.

If you are looking for a reactive solution, you can manually request that websites such as MyLife take down your personal info. There is typically a link at the bottom of the page that allows you to make this request. You could always email the company directly and request that this information is removed. If you are concerned about your social media past, you could always nuke your social media accounts. It is important to note that you cannot trust social media platforms such as Facebook to protect your privacy no matter how many privacy functions are built into the platform. If you choose to utilize social media platforms, please be aware that you are in no way using these platforms anonymously and your personal information is being retained so that corporations can market to you.

There are online services that specialize in deleting every trace of your existence found inside search engine results. JustDelete.me is a good starting resource for this task. Reddit also has a nice write up on how toremove yourself and your family from people finding websites. Just be aware that once something is published online, archives of this data are probably available in some way, shape or form.

Smartphones: Weighing the Risks

In 2013, Pew research found that 91 percent of American adults have access to a smartphone. If you are truly trying to protect your privacy, you must first ask yourself if you actually need a smartphone. While there is no argument that cellular devices are easily one of the least secure methods of communication, smartphones take this a step further by incorporating popular apps that often have overreaching privacy policies. Users typically skip over the privacy agreements by clicking “yes” in order to proceed with installation of the app. The consequences of arbitrarily clicking “yes” could mean that you are giving the app permission to capture pictures using your phone’s camera while charting your current location on a map in order for the world to potentially see…

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