Many people believe that data privacy doesn’t exist anymore. While it’s certainly not as easy to obtain as it used to be, data privacy still remains an important and necessary topic for everyone. Today, five states have active data privacy laws and almost fifteen more have introduced legislation to create such laws. In fact, even at a national level in the United States, a bill was introduced, called the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA). While this, along with the near fifteen states remain stalled or under review, it’s a promising sign for those that want to see data privacy a top priority.
Data privacy is not something that can simply be signed up for. It takes action on the users’ part and a desire to limit information sharing. Let’s talk about best practices and a starting point. Since this is part one in a multi-part data privacy series, we’ll start small.
- Personal social media profiles should be kept on private
- Generally, the social media platform(s) you use will have a settings area and you may find privacy settings under either a “privacy” area or a “security” area. Additionally, most social media platforms have help articles to guide you to important areas of their platforms.
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- If you read our other OPA Sheets, you’ve probably seen us mention MFA before. While it’s not necessarily a data privacy setting, it is a great security enhancement that can keep unwanted bad actors out of your accounts. So, technically it will help with privacy and we of course recommend it always be turned on where available.
- People finder websites (also known as data brokers)
- One of the easiest ways to find people are through use of popular people finder websites. Try searching “top ten people finder websites” and you’ll locate a host of well-known and less-known people search websites. Not all are created equally and some may not be legitimate, so proceed with caution. We recommend that you use “remove my listing” as a keyword paired with each of the people finder websites you locate your data on. Request your information be removed, but be cautious about what details you provide to those companies and always be cautious of links on websites and search engines.
Okay, that’s enough for now and will you keep you plenty busy if you end up down a rabbit hole like we did with the people search websites. As with any internet search, be careful and watch out for fake website. You can enlist professional help if you feel step three is over your head. Here are a few helpful websites and organizations that have more details on this topic.
Discover Card – How to remove your information from People Search Sites
Experian – How to remove your information from People Search Sites
Consumer Reports – Delete your information from People-Search Sites
Fox News – How to delete yourself from People Search Sites
Ready for more about Data Privacy? Check out parts 2 and 3 in our series here: Data Privacy, Part 2 and Data Privacy, Part 3.