Hiding your personal online data
By Hope Hodge Seck, Staff writer
In the wake of terrorist hacks and information dumps targeting U.S. troops, the
Marine Corps released a how-to guide showing troops how to get personal data
taken off public online search engines and databases.
Published by the Marines' cybersecurity division in May, the 11-page handbook,
titled "Public People Search Database Removal Guide
<http://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Docs/C4Guide_Public_People_Search_DB_Removal.
pdf> " and available on marines.mil, describes methods to get sensitive or
personal information removed from easy access points online, including top
search engine Google.
Marine officials declined to link the handbook to specific incidents or threats,
such as a "kill-list" released in March by the self-described hacking division
of the Islamic State group that included photos, names and addresses of 100 U.S.
troops.
"The Marine Corps has always advised Marines to safeguard their personal
information, both online and off," said Capt. Tyler Balzer, a Marine spokesman
at the Pentagon, adding that cyber threats are increasing daily.
Ask nicely. The new handbook informs Marines they can often remove compromising
or personal information from Google searches by calling or emailing the website
administrator of the source that published the information, and requesting it be
taken down.
While the guide advises troops "not to take no for an answer," it also clarifies
that sites are under no legal obligation to take information down.
"No one will want to help you if you are a jerk, so be nice!" the guide states.
White Pages and more. For public records databases including White Pages,
Intelius, PeopleSmart, PeekYou and more, officials provide site-specific
instructions in the handbook to find opt-out request forms.
They advise Marines that these websites operate on implicit consent, requiring
individuals to explicitly opt out in order to protect their personal data.
"Some of the sites allow individuals to opt out through requests online while
others require individuals to upload a copy of a government-issued ID such as a
driver's license to complete the process," they write. "It is recommended that
the photo and the ID number be blacked out before submitting the copy to the
site."
For Google, the authors tell Marines to cite the reason for URL removal requests
as "outdated information."
Finding workarounds. Though the handbook's authors note that many sites limit
users to five information removal requests per email or Internet Protocol (IP)
address, they also offer a few sophisticated tools to trick the sites into
granting more requests.
Troops can create a fake email address with Fakeemailgenerator.com and then hide
their IP address with Turbohide.com, a proxy server tool.
Pay for privacy. When other methods fail, officials advise troops to pay for
services that mask or eliminate personal info that may appear online, though
terms and conditions vary by company.
Sometimes, however, this method can backfire. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Patrick
O'Reilly allegedly paid a "reputation management" company to flood the Web with
positive information to hide news stories about accusations of toxic leadership,
but the move put him in the news again when it was discovered by Army Times.
The best protection. The guide reiterates the importance of caution when posting
any personal info online and reminds troops that they often lose the rights to
what they post, per the terms and conditions of the websites they use.
"The most important thing to remember is that whatever you post to the Internet
will be there forever, otherwise known as a 'digital tattoo,' the authors write.
SOURCE: MarineTimes at
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2015/05/23/hiding-personal-online
-data/27847231/
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