The Gentle January series shares one practical privacy tip a day from a Markup staffer who actually uses the advice in their own life.

As an investigative reporter who has covered government, criminal justice, immigration and breaking news, I spend countless hours using internet-accessible public records to find people. And many people I do find. 

It’s second nature for a journalist to find whatever public information exists– especially at the click of a button. In this case: people-search sites. These sites can offer people’s current and previous addresses, criminal records, relatives’ names and, disturbingly, even more. They are just one type of tool in our arsenal when we’re trying to investigate someone that may not want to be found. 

There are a million websites that scour and aggregate this sort of personal data. Before you know it, they post some of your most sensitive information to every corner of the deep, dark web, and it spreads like cancer. 

I’m a lover of public information, but also realize how dangerous this can be. 

As a former victim of online harassment, I had my “aha” moment in 2020 when a speaker at a journalism conference gave a workshop about self care. One of the bullet points included subscribing to a platform that helps keep you safe online. What better way than to literally take care of yourself? That was my cue. 

There are many companies out there that can consistently scrape the internet on your behalf and help remove identifiable info about you. Consumer Reports listed some of them here (although that article was last updated in 2021 and prices may have changed). I ultimately landed with DeleteMe. They scavenge cyberspace, contact the data brokers, and submit requests for removal on my behalf.

It’s not 100 percent perfect, but it’s worked for me. This is just one way I help preserve my privacy and practice “self care.” You can read about other ways I do so here and here.