This guide has two sections. The first section contains an extensive (and growing) list of the main areas of most people’s lives where personal information may be accessible. The intention of the lists (and many of them are as long as grocery lists) is to illustrate how freely we have allowed our information to be collected, archived, shared, and often sold or commoditized by third parties.

 

Part 2 of this guide is where you begin to take control of your privacy. This section includes an actionable, prioritized list of steps you can take to reduce your attack surface immediately. We have intentionally kept it concise, and there are links to the sites you can use to increase your protections or reduce your exposure. The key to getting through the list is consistency. Do as much as you can at whatever is a reasonable pace for you, and try to complete additional tasks over the coming days or weeks until you are in a comfortably secure position. Believe it or not, after a while it becomes second nature and knowing you are stopping outsiders from prying into your information starts to feel pretty satisfying.

 

You owe it to yourself to take control of your information