The web that allows you to erase all your traces on the Internet

One of the most criticized aspects of the Internet is the lack of anonymity. and the ease with which the most insignificant data about what we do on the web can be stored, processed or even sold.

The so-called digital footprint has become another extension of ourselves. For example, a computer program may become capable of knowing our personality as much or more that our family and friends just by analyzing the "likes" that we put on Facebook, as we have seen in this article.

That is why the option of being able to erase our traces on the Internet has become a necessity which we should be able to dispose of. Fortunately, ways are already being developed to make this possible.

fingerprint

If you are a person who has been using the Internet for more than 5 or 6 years, you will have noticed the ease with which you get to points in which you have no choice but to register on web pages to access the service you need to use. In fact, many of them even ask for a mobile number.

However, Most of the personal information that we leave on the Internet is not the data that we voluntarily enter

in data collection sheets; It is our own Internet browsing that is most interesting to know.

Thus, our searches in Google, what pages we visit, the way in which we click on links from one website to another... All these data, combined, serve to create a profile of our personality as Internet users. Not even the antivirus or the incognito browsing modes that some browsers incorporate prevent this information from being spread over the network of networks.

This set of data about oneself that remains on the network due to our actions on the Internet is called "digital footprint", and it is what many people are interested in deleting.

Erasing the trace on the web

It is clear that the more time spent using the Internet through computers, tablets or smartphones, the more difficult it is to clean the network of these traces. However, there are ways to eliminate much of the digital footprint, including the deletion of photographs or texts.

One of the most interesting projects in this sense is that of the Swedes Wille Dahlbo and Linus Unnebäck, who have developed a website called Deseat.me. From this online platform it is possible to delete a large number of user accounts opened on Internet pages, social networks, forums, etc.

To use it, it is only necessary to log in from a Google account and choose which profiles you want to permanently delete.

A project in expansion

At the moment, Deseat.me does not allow you to delete any trace on the Internet, but rather those that start from profiles opened on certain websites. However, there is no doubt that with the passage of time the increase in the population of digital natives and the need to preserve anonymity They will make this same option and many others grow and become increasingly powerful tools.

Otherwise, the privacy of many people would be seriously compromised. Not only would you live with a feeling of defenselessness against possible attacks in which personal information is used, but you would also could use this data to further influence policy and processes related to the internal workings of companies. companies... All this, with obvious psychological impact: the appearance of situations that produce a lot of stress when using the Internet.

In fact, in recent years we have already seen how the search for old information is used on Facebook and Twitter to try to harm public figures. Over time, the same could be extended to anyone who has spent decades using the Internet.