Social networks are enormous, highly searchable data storehouses. Given that, it’s typically a bad idea to post any personally identifiable information on them because you don’t know who might see it. Don’t ever share your address, birthday or Social Security number in any online public forum, whether Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or a message board.

Strava is a fitness app that tracks users’ runs or bike rides, with a social media twist. Users can connect with their friends through the app to see other athletes’ bike or run paths. Unless your privacy settings are updated to your liking, it’s possible that anyone can see where you are running or biking. […]

Pipl is a website that finds public identity information. When you search for yourself on this website, Pipl’s identity resolution engine service collects whatever online information about you it can find and shows you what other people can see. Keep in mind there are several other sites that do this, too, and Pipl alone might […]

When you use the internet for private purposes — whether you’re looking up directions from your home or making purchases — you may want to use a browser that keeps all of your information private. Startpage is a great option because it never saves or shares any of your information, and it does not allow […]

Spotify only collects relevant personal data, but if you are interested in seeing what they collect, you can request a ZIP file containing what they’ve collected. You can download this file on the Privacy Section of your account page. If you have a more specific request, you can email [email protected]

If you want to see how much of your personal information is publicly available, it might seem like there are an infinite number of sources you have to search. Conducting this research is called Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), and there is a resource that provides a number of services for collecting online information called OSINT […]