Can you disappear from the Internet?
You might have had this thought earlier, and obviously there is a reason to think like that. But can you really disappear from the Internet?
Is it even possible to imagine about disappearing completely from the Internet? The answer is kinda yes and NO, but
Before that, you should know YOU!
You in You
Who are you on the Internet? That’s a very interesting question to find an answer. You don’t really know who you are when you’re on the Internet.
Maybe your close friends or followers on your favorite social media site can help, but you’re not very much aware about who you are on the Internet.
You might be an interesting nerd on facebook, you might be a photographer on shutterstock or a professional artist in some other website. You already have an idea about who you’re, but the tech giants can help.
Guess what!? Google has the answer.
Everybody believes that Facebook is putting their nose into users privacy, but guess what? Google is doing that at the peak level, but they know the business very well (really well).
Tracking
Facebook has a lot of data about your birthday, friends, colleagues, family, chats, locations, day to day activities, interests etc. But Google tracks a lot of data and they have the best in class technology to do that.
The chrome browser which you’re using, the android phones, the gmail accounts, Google+, the codes provided by Google in other websites you surf, the search engine itself, maps and a lot of free stuffs which we use everyday tracks us.
The moment you get out of amazon and surf other websites, Google ads will start showing up the ads about products you just viewed (to improve business) and they can only do this if they could track you.
You’ve been tracked, like totally! but there is hope.
Database
Everything is being tracked and recorded for the purpose of business. The data which these companies acquire overtime is being learned and processed with great filters.
Finally the data is being sold to advertisers (not directly) via their advertising platforms, so that these advertisers can make sure that their product is reaching out to the targeted audiences.
That’s how the business works.
Disappearing totally is not possible at all, you can delete your facebook account, whatsapp and even instagram, but can you really get out of Google?
Even if you get out of Facebook for sometime and when you come back, they’ll welcome you back with your name (which means that they still have your data).
No matter how you try to escape, you cannot completely get rid of these companies and even clearing off the data completely is a dream (that’s not happening).
But, rules!
The GDPR privacy rule from the European union is here to help. GDPR is a brilliant security rule to help users protect their data. When GDPR becomes totally active, the companies and websites should be able to give the complete data which they have about you and me with a click.
You have the right to ask them clear off the data about you and they should do it (otherwise you can sue them and make money), and the rule is being adapted slowly by different countries already.
It’s ofcourse a hell for developers and tech companies, but surely a boon for users to protect their valuable data (happy days ahead).
So yes, you can disappear from the web temporarily now, and permanently within 5 years time (hopefully).
