New Year, New You? Your Personal Data Might Not Agree

As January settles in, the initial fervor of New Year’s resolutions begins to wane. Gym attendance drops, dietary discipline softens, and those ambitious screen time goals? They’re likely already casualties of daily life. But for those who vowed 2026 would be the year they finally took control of their online privacy, there’s a silver lining: protecting your digital footprint has never been easier.

The Silent Auction: How Your Personal Data is Being Sold

Every single day, data brokers are quietly auctioning off intimate details about your life. These shadowy entities purchase comprehensive data files detailing everything from your web browsing patterns and personal interests to your precise location history, then resell this information to the highest bidder. The holiday season, with its surge in online activity, provides brokers with fresh opportunities to update and expand their dossiers on you.

The mechanism is insidious yet commonplace. Each time you register for a new website or download an app, you’re required to click “I agree” to lengthy privacy policies. Most of us never read these documents—and even if we did, the language is deliberately opaque. Phrases like “we will share your data with selected partners” sound innocuous, but they’re corporate euphemisms for selling your information to data brokers who then resell it to their own clients.

The consequences range from merely annoying to genuinely dangerous. At best, your data ends up in the hands of advertisers who target you with eerily specific ads. At worst, hackers intercept this information, making it available to scammers and identity thieves. In an era of hyper-realistic deepfake technology, a criminal armed with personal details you believed were known only to family and close friends becomes a formidable threat.

The Takedown Trap: Why Removing Your Data is Nearly Impossible

By law, data brokers must remove your information upon request—a process known as a “takedown request.” But here’s the catch: companies deliberately make these requests nearly impossible to execute. They bury the necessary links deep within their websites, create labyrinthine procedures, and sometimes openly violate regulations by failing to provide removal options altogether.

Even when you successfully navigate this bureaucratic minefield, your victory is fleeting. Data brokers continuously purchase new information, meaning you’d need to repeatedly submit identical takedown requests to the same companies in an endless, Sisyphean cycle.

Incogni: Your Digital Privacy Bodyguard

This is where Incogni enters the picture—not just as a service, but as your personal digital privacy advocate. Unlike other solutions, Incogni handles the heavy lifting across hundreds of data brokers, genealogy websites, and social media platforms. They don’t just submit requests; they monitor compliance, scan for newly added data, and automatically reissue takedown requests when necessary.

What sets Incogni apart is its comprehensive approach. While competitors often overlook tricky “People Search Sites,” Incogni tackles all broker types head-on. Their Unlimited plan even allows you to submit URLs you’ve discovered yourself, with Incogni handling the removal process on your behalf.

For a limited time, 9to5Mac readers can claim a 55% discount using the promo code 9TO5MAC through this exclusive link.

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