# Reclaim Your Privacy. A guide to being the master of your own identity.

A scene from the movie Anon, where a law enforcement official is browsing through the global hive mind.

This idea was spawned from the movie "[Anon](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5397194/plotsummary/#synopsis)", which is based around a futuristic "utopia" (dystopia) where every waking moment is recorded and uploaded to the internet. Law enforcement officials are able to access this footage, but so are talented hackers, who use it for their own personal gain. The protagonist, a girl known only as *Anon*, uses her technical prowess to hide her identity and make herself invisible to the system. Her mantra, the name of our organization, is "Delete fucking everything." At the end of the film, trying to understand her motivations, another character asked what she had to hide. Her answer was resoundingly impactful: > It's not that I have something to hide. I have nothing I want you to see. In the United States, an individual's right to privacy is extrapolated from the Fourth Amendment, which protects individuals in their persons, homes, papers, and effects from "unreasonable searches and seizures" by the government.[¹](#references) While the exact language is not universal, over 150 national constitutions mention the right to privacy.[²](#references) In the *Universal Declaration of Human Rights*, the United Nations specifically mentions privacy as one of the inalienable rights all human beings are entitled to.[³](#references) That is the purpose of this project. The modern internet is a machine designed to collect, correlate, and retain every possible piece of information about you for as long as possible. Companies do it for money, governments do it for power, and random shit-ass data broker sites do it because there is an entire industry built around turning your life into a public lookup table. Delete Fucking Everything is a practical guide to fighting back. The objective is not to become a schizophrenic hermit hiding in the woods, but to make yourself far more difficult to profile, track, categorize, and locate. Every stale account deleted, every broker listing suppressed, every unnecessary service deprived of your real information is one less piece of you floating around for someone else to exploit. ### References \[1] \[2] \[3] # Virtual World. How to maintain privacy in cyberspace. Since the invention of the personal computer in 1970, the same technology that has introduced vast improvements to modern society has also been used to track users.[¹](#references) The virtual world is where most people are first taught to surrender every detail of their existence for the sake of convenience. Your name, age, location, employer, relationships, purchasing habits, interests, political views, and physical address are all treated as fair game by platforms that believe any data they can collect is data they are entitled to keep. If someone wanted to build a picture of your life 30 years ago, they had to actually work for it. Now they can get halfway there by reading your social media profiles, buying broker data, and correlating the same email address across every platform you've ever signed up for. This section is focused on dealing with that reality. Delete the unnecessary, compartmentalize what remains, and stop giving random companies clean, structured access to your identity just because they slapped a login button on a glossy web page. Start with [Social Media.](/virtual-world./social-media.), [Mail.](/virtual-world./mail.), and [People Search.](/virtual-world./people-search.). ### References \[1] # Social Media. In accordance with the DFE mantra, if you want to remain anonymous online, begin by deleting your social media accounts. Don't just stop using your accounts, purge the data entirely. This includes accounts you haven't used in years, like your old Facebook profile from 10 years ago. Every piece of data related to you on the internet can be aggregated and used to build a better picture of who you are, so every possible piece should be located and eradicated if you want maximum anonymity. This doesn't just mean the obvious offenders like Facebook, Instagram, and X. It also means every dead profile you created for school, work, gaming, dating, forums, hobby groups, side projects, and whatever other nonsense seemed worth signing up for at the time. An abandoned account is still useful to anyone trying to map your online presence, especially when it contains the same username, avatar, bio, or email address that you use everywhere else. The same rule applies to services that are not traditionally thought of as "social media" but still encourage public identity. LinkedIn is one of the worst examples because it packages your employment history, geographic location, professional network, and headshot into a neat little dossier for strangers. If your goal is privacy, that is obviously terrible. If you insist on keeping some accounts, reduce the amount of information they expose as much as possible. Remove your employer, hometown, school history, phone number, searchable email address, and any other data that makes correlation easier. Lock the accounts down, review the privacy settings, and assume that anything you post may eventually become public anyway. If you feel the need to retain some repository of information about yourself, whether for your own reference or for family members and friends, consider creating a private network using something like Mastodon. You will have complete control over your data, including what is shared and who it is shared with.[¹](#references) ### References \[1] # Mail. Ordering items online is an opening to expose your physical location to the entire world. Even a trusted, privacy-conscious retailer can be breached by attackers, and your address could be exposed via an exfiltrated database. This is one of the easiest ways for your online identity to become tied directly to your real-world location. Once your name, email, phone number, and home address are all attached to a retail account, every order you place becomes one more record that can be sold, leaked, or subpoenaed. People tend to think of privacy as a browser problem, when in reality a package showing up at your front door can be just as revealing. Whenever possible, avoid handing your home address to random companies unless there is an actual reason to do so. PO boxes, private mailboxes, package lockers, alternate pickup locations, and other forms of indirection are all worth considering depending on your situation. The goal is simple: stop making your residence the default destination for every dumb purchase and newsletter signup on the internet. If you want a PO box specifically, the USPS process is straightforward: 1. Go to the [USPS PO box page](https://poboxes.usps.com/findBox.html) and search by your ZIP code or address. 2. Choose a Post Office location and a box size based on how much mail you actually expect to receive. 3. Reserve and pay online. 4. Go to that Post Office in person with your completed application and 2 forms of ID to pick up your keys or combination. Boxes are offered in 3/6/12-month rental terms, and the prices differ based on your location + box size. These were the prices at the last store I checked: | Size | 3 months | 6 months | 12 months | | ---- | -------: | -------: | --------: | | XS | $63 | $108 | $216 | | S | $80 | $138 | $276 | | M | $127 | $219 | $438 | | L | $152 | $262 | $524 | You should also be selective about where you buy from in the first place. Every new storefront is another database with your information in it, and many of these sites are run by people who clearly do not give a shit about security. If a merchant looks shady, behaves strangely, or asks for more information than necessary, assume their database will eventually become somebody else's download. ### References \[1] # People Search. How to remove your personal information from people-search sites and data brokers. If you search your name online and find your home address, relatives, age, and phone number all packaged together on some random website, you are looking at one of the most obnoxious industries on the internet. People-search sites and data brokers exist to aggregate as much information about you as possible, then make it searchable for strangers. Some of them hide behind the pretense of "public records," some pretend they are helping with background checks, and some are so transparently slimy that the only honest description is that they are digital stalker utilities. This should be one of the first areas you attack if your goal is privacy, because it directly connects your online identity to your physical location. ## Aggregators A small concentration of data aggregators powers the majority of the privacy ecosystem from behind the scenes. Opting out at the root means that all the downstream applications will no longer have access to your information * [TruthFinder](https://app.truthfinder.com/privacy-center) * [PeopleConnect](https://suppression.peopleconnect.us/guided-mode) * [FreeBackgroundChecks](https://freebackgroundchecks.com/optout/) * [BackgroundCheckers](https://www.backgroundcheckers.net/api/helper/optOutLight/search) * [Whitepages](https://www.whitepages.com/suppression-requests) ## My Experience An unverified match on PeopleConnect couldn't be suppressed through the portal based on my authenticated information, so I had to email them directly and request that they handle it manually. The automated call verification for Whitepages never came through, despite five attempts. I found [another form](https://whitepagesprivacy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new) and submitted a request under the [Maryland Online Data Privacy Act of 2024](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2024rs/chapters_noln/ch_454_hb0567e.pdf), a state law requiring that they actually delete my information rather than merely hide it. BackgroundCheckers claimed my Captcha verification failed (even when it absolutely did not), including after retrying across browsers, so I sent them an email complaining and manually requested removal there too. ## Guidance Keep a list of every site you find, every request you submit, and every confirmation you receive. These companies make the process deliberately annoying, and if you do not document your work you will end up doing the same shit twice. A simple tracking document is enough. Use something like this: ``` Site: Profile URL: Name used on listing: Address shown: Phone number shown: Date request submitted: Method used: portal / email / legal form / other Confirmation number or email: Status: pending / completed / denied / follow-up needed Next action: Notes: ``` If you want to save even more time, make yourself a reusable removal request template: ``` Subject: Request for Removal of Personal Information Hello, I am requesting the removal or suppression of my personal information from your website. The record in question is located here: [PASTE PROFILE URL] This listing contains my personal information and I am requesting that it be deleted or suppressed from public view. Name on record: [YOUR NAME] Address on record: [YOUR ADDRESS, IF NEEDED] Phone number on record: [YOUR PHONE NUMBER, IF NEEDED] Please confirm when this request has been completed. Thank you. ``` When a self-service form fails, do not assume you are stuck. Find their privacy contact, support address, or legal request form and send the request manually. Include the profile URL, identify exactly which record belongs to you, and be explicit that you are requesting suppression or deletion of your personal information. Also understand that this is not a one-time process. Broker sites ingest fresh data constantly, and profiles can reappear later. You may need to revisit these searches periodically to keep your information buried. # Physical World. How to maintain privacy in the realm of people. Maintaining privacy in real life is much more difficult than doing so virtually. You can be followed, you can be observed remotely with binoculars, you can have trackers installed on your vehicle... there is an endless list of potential ways you can be monitored "IRL" (**I**n **R**eal **L**ife). This page is meant to be a guide on mitigating the effectiveness of conventional monitoring techniques and maintaining a semblance of privacy as you go about your day. # Predictability. How to prevent someone from mapping out your Pattern of Life (PoL). With adequate time dedicated to observation, the vast majority of humans are incredibly predictable. With this in mind, analyze your own daily schedule and try to see yourself from the outside. You probably work the same hours, on the same days of the week, getting to and from work via the same route. **Mix it up.** Shake off potential outside observation by switching up your schedule. Don't take the same route to work every day, add some slight variation to there is no guarantee of your location at a specific time. If your career allows it, leave for work earlier some days and later on others, instead of leaving the house at 08:15 on the dot every weekday. # Gear. Items and products that improve an individual's privacy posture. ## Faraday Backpack The [Faraday Backpack](https://www.amazon.com/Silent-Pocket-Faraday-Waterproof-Backpack/dp/B07CRP85PR?&_encoding=UTF8\&tag=ajmeese-20\&linkCode=ur2\&linkId=bfd88a1369df1c7171315ec88a159a53\&camp=1789\&creative=9325) is a traveler's best friend. The bag comes with inline wireless shielding technology that will entirely prevent your devices from communicating with the outside world. Putting your phone and laptop in the pack will ensure that nobody is able to digitally track your location, further reducing your virtual footprint and eliminating a way that someone can monitor you.