How to Completely Disappear From the Digital Grid

Criminals are not alone in hiding internet tracks. Routine users increasingly resist every impulsive, curious click of the keyboard analyzed and exposed by others. The book – “How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails and Vanish Without a Trace” – offers advice on privacy. Many users already use false names to explore news or post queries. But authors Frank Ahearn and Eileen Horan also advise against posting birth dates, places of birth and other vital information. Internet provider addresses are easily tracked. Users can avoid tracking by using free wireless or disposable memory sticks, avoiding provider networks that know their identity. Casual conversations and connections via social networks could be downright dangerous if the data land in the wrong hands – modern-day versions of the Khmer Rouge, Nazis or anti-communist Joseph McCarthy. Katie Kindelan, writing for Social Times, labels the advice as impractical, but “a good reminder of not putting ourselves completely ‘out there’ online.” – YaleGlobal