Question:

Do you feel you are vulnerable to hackers or identity thieves because you have a large online presence? Have you ever thought of removing your personal data from the net? Well, it's not quite as simple as it should be. There are a few easy-to-follow steps that should point you in the right direction that can be found online, but the story does not end there. How can you make sure your personal information or financial data will not be exposed on sites that do not have your written permission? Is it possible to completely remove yourself from the web?

Facebooks practices were under scrutiny when it was revealed that the data of more than 50 million Facebook users found its way into the hands of UK-based Cambridge Analytica, which reportedly used it to better target political ads for the Trump campaign during the US 2016 presidential election.

The more troubling aspect of the story is that your personal data on these free services is often somewhat exposed because you opted-in to all sorts of onerous provisions when you first signed up for these "free" services. That's exactly why some users are choosing to completely delete or deactivate accounts when and where possible.

So, how can deleting yourself from the internet prevent these companies from acquiring your information? Some say there is no sure way to completely remove your information, but there are ways to minimize your online footprint, which would lower the chances of your data getting compromised.

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Project Plan

In this case project, we will determine the many options and the companies that collect your personal information. They're called data brokers and they have names like Spokeo, Whitepages.com, PeopleFinder, as well as plenty of others.

We will also explore the companies that claim to be able to remove your personal information from the web and the methods they use to delete this information.

And finally, you will be asked to report on these findings with a step-by-step written summary of the processes and the methods discovered in our research. In addition, you will provide a list of the many data brokers found and the agencies (and their websites) that claim to remove identities.