I’ve been in the computer business for over 21 years. Last week, I decided to look up where my personal information appears online. I was stunned! Imagine discovering that companies you’ve never heard of are selling your home address, telephone number, age and information about your family to complete strangers. Welcome to the wonderful world of the internet, where apparently YOU are the merchandise.
They’re called data brokers, and their business is collecting, packaging and selling information about ordinary people like you and me. They gather details from public records, websites, social media, shopping activity and other sources, combining everything into surprisingly detailed personal profiles. Your current address, previous addresses, phone numbers, relatives’ names and plenty of other information you’d probably prefer to keep private can all end up in these databases.
And here’s the disturbing part: You may never have heard of these companies or knowingly agreed to do business with them. Yet there you are, neatly packaged and ready for sale. It’s like having a nosy neighbor keeping files on everyone in Marblehead, except this neighbor has a computer, an enormous database and a business plan.
I’ve heard people say, “So what? Everybody knows where I live.” But there’s a BIG difference between an old-fashioned telephone book and today’s data brokers. Telephone books didn’t combine your address with family relationships, personal history and dozens of other details, and then make everything instantly searchable by strangers around the world.
Here’s where things get dangerous. Scammers use personal information to make their schemes more convincing. Imagine someone calling and claiming to be from your bank. They already know your name, address and perhaps your relatives’ names. Sounds legitimate, right? Not necessarily. Criminals can use these details to impersonate you, attempt identity theft or create frighteningly believable scams.
And don’t think you’re immune because you don’t use Facebook or spend your evenings posting pictures of your dinner. Even people who rarely use the internet can have surprisingly large digital footprints.
Want to see for yourself? Open Google and search for your full name, town and state. Try adding your telephone number. You may find websites displaying information you never gave them. Some even offer to sell detailed reports about you. Congratulations! You’ve just met the data broker industry.
Fortunately, you CAN fight back without throwing away your computer or moving to a cabin in the woods. Start by thinking twice before giving websites your birthday, telephone number or other personal details. Review your social media privacy settings and avoid publicly sharing information about your family or daily routines.
You can also request removal from people-search websites through their “opt-out” procedures. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of data brokers, and information can reappear after it’s removed. Tracking them down individually can become a full-time job, and I suspect most of us already have one of those.
Services like Incogni can help by contacting data brokers and requesting removal of your information. At The Digital Docs, we’ve recently partnered with Incogni because protecting your personal information is becoming just as important as protecting your computer. No service can erase everything about you from the internet, but reducing what’s available is a worthwhile step.
After 21 years of helping people with their computers, I’ve watched the threats change. We used to worry mostly about viruses and slow computers. Today, we’re dealing with scammers stealing identities, taking over accounts and gathering enough personal information to make their tricks frighteningly convincing.
Your personal information belongs to you. Just because somebody CAN collect it doesn’t mean you should make it easy for them.
And if a complete stranger already knows your address, birthday and the names of your relatives, perhaps it’s time to ask who’s been telling them.
Because it probably wasn’t your nosy neighbor.
Until next time: Stay safe out there!
