They're going to keep selling it. Here's how to keep deleting it.

We have talked about getting your data out of the hands of data brokers a lot. We did it here, and here, and here, and a few other places as well.

With Mythos (the breach-industrial complex we covered here) doing what it does, there are going to be more breaches — purely on the mathematics of the thing. Which means the cycle where data brokers have your data > you delete your data > you input your data on a different website > that site gets breached > your data gets sold again > brokers have your data > you delete your data keeps happening, but at an accelerated rate.

It's time to actually do something about it.

So, here are a few tricks beyond everything we've covered before. The goal is to come at this from every angle — so you can stop them from frisbeeing your data back and forth between them.

This works well if 1) you have Gmail (which we don't recommend — it's Google's data collection apparatus dressed up as email), or 2) you haven't started masking your email everywhere yet (which we do recommend, and covered here).

If you need to put your email down for any website, add a + and the name of the site to your address. So, fred @gmail.com becomes fred+BestBuy @gmail.com. You type it in that way, and you'll still get the email. When junk mail and phishing start rolling into the fred+BestBuy address, you'll know exactly who sold your data — and you can take it up with them.

Getting one of these, in the mail, by email, or by text, is a little flag that your data has been sold. This Instagram post breaks down exactly how that works. Then head to OptOutPreScreen and get yourself opted out.

Here's the part people skip: go to the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection site, and your state's equivalent, and report each company that opted you in without asking. It feels like a lot the first time. It isn't. And it actually matters.

Companies are quietly collecting biometric data — think facial recognition, voiceprints, even how you walk — and most people have no idea they've agreed to it. Keep Beyond has an opt-out specifically for this. Worth a few minutes.

Google is... everywhere. In your search bar, your browser, your Maps app, your email, your kid's school Chromebook. Peeling it back takes some effort, but it's worth it. Vice has a good explainer on how Google has (somewhat) made this easier. And Liberation Toolbox has a practical guide for actually doing it.

Before you de-Google, use Google's own tools to see what they have on you. Results About You shows you what personal information appears in Google Search, and lets you request removal. Might as well make them do some of the work.

This is one of my favorites. Maintained by the very thorough Yael Grauer, it's exactly what it sounds like: a comprehensive, regularly updated list of data brokers and instructions for opting out of each one. Bookmark it. Use it. Find it here.

It doesn't matter what you do first, or whether you do these in order. Just pick one. Do that. Then pick another. Every opt-out is one less company with your information, one less door left unlocked. You're not trying to be perfect. You're trying to be harder to mess with than the next person. And that? That's very doable.

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