7 Ways to Limit Your Online Data Exposure
When buying a Columbus home, you may be concerned about the type of personal information that shows up about you online. If you haven’t put your own name into Google lately to see what comes up, you might want to check!
In most cases, the information you’ll find about yourself is fairly benign – name, location, contact data – the same stuff that appears in phone books. But you’ll also find references to your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts, as well as other online content that involves your name. If you’ve posted a video to YouTube, or commented on a news article, that activity is likely to pop up in a search.
Public information is also more accessible than ever. You can look up real estate ownership by visiting the Franklin County Recorder website. You can find a property tax bill by using the Franklin County Treasurer’s property tax information website. Franklin County Municipal Court records are available online using the CASE Network. In each instance, the information online is no different than what you could obtain by walking through the office doors.
Then, there’s data that you never expected to be gathered about you and sold to third-party companies. Personal data reselling is a burgeoning industry. Big companies like OnStar and Verizon, among many others, may sell your personal info and your account activity to third-party “data brokers.” What’s more, there are many U.S. states that also sell your BMV records – including Ohio.
Third-party data brokers and automated “scraper” sites compile detailed consumer profiles from multiple sources. In turn, they sell these profiles to anyone willing to pay for them. Since 2005, the number of online data brokers has more than doubled, meaning your information could be packaged by hundreds of companies.
Before you panic, remember that consumer data sharing has gone on for decades. The Internet has simply made it easier, faster, and more prolific. However, if you are interested in minimizing the amount of information that appears about you online, there are a few steps you can take.
1. Don’t over-share on social media. Restrict your privacy settings so that only your direct friends and family see your posts. Basic info, such as your name, city and profile photo may still remain public. You could close all your social media accounts, but any data you have already shared may be in the archives of data brokers.
2. Don’t accept “friend” or “follow” requests from people you do not personally know. Automated, data-scraping “bots” can pose as people on social media sites.
3. Refuse social gaming requests. Online games operating through social media sites may use apps that “leak” personal profile data to third parties.
4. Do not log into websites using your social media accounts.
5. Contact data brokers and request removal of your information. There are over 200 of these companies, but search engine results are dominated by a handful of them. Big players include CoreLogic, MyLife, Intelius, Spokeo, White Pages, and PeopleSmart. Visit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.com to search for data brokers and their opt-out instructions. Also see this blog entry by Abine for tips on getting your data removed.
6. Hire a data-removal company. Companies like Abine.com and SafeShepard.com will help remove your personal data from the Internet, for a fee.
7. Don’t use the same login and password combo for multiple websites. In the event one website’s user data is compromised, having different logins, passwords, and email addresses for other sites can prevent a data-scraping domino effect. In other words, your social media logins should not be the same for your online banking.
This topic contains more discussion than what we can tackle here, but these steps give you an important start. We are all living in a digital world that is very transparent. Just as it’s smart to monitor your credit history, it’s smart to monitor your online presence for signs of any problems.
We hope you’ve found this information useful! As your Exclusive Buyer’s Broker, we serve your best interests at all times. Unlike real estate agents and brokerages who represent sellers, as an Exclusive Buyer’s Broker, we only represent you, the buyer, getting you the best price and terms with no conflict of interest at all times.
Understanding this distinction could literally save you thousands of dollars not only on the purchase price and terms, but also on seller concessions and home inspection issues, whether you are a first-time homebuyer or an experienced homeowner!
Contact us with your home buying questions! Remember, we are with you every step of the way…all the way home!
Andrew Show
Broker, CEBA, CEBA-M, CNE, CSP, ABR-M, e-PRO, GREEN
Buyer’s Resource Realty Services
Serving Metro Columbus, Ohio with Exclusive Buyer’s Agents
7100 North High Street, Suite 204, Worthington, Ohio 43085
614-888-4110 | 888-888-4110 Toll Free | 614-839-4110 Fax
