This Is Real.Me – Keeping Your Privacy Safe And Sound
Privacy on the internet almost seems like an oxymoron, or at least like a feral place for trolling. However, just like in real life, over-sharing is obnoxious and you really don’t need to share everything you think and do. Keeping some things private is part of what keeps us sane and differs us from others. So how to do that online, where privacy settings are changing faster than politician’s opinions? Real.Me is here to save the rest of your online days.
Clean up your online identity
With the rapid growth of social and career online networking, and the ability to simply Google a name to see what pops up, Real.Me’s powerful technology is your best defence against the spread of inaccurate or harmful information. The concept is straightforward: technology locates and analyses online postings, mentions, photos, privacy settings and «Deep Web» data pieces that may potentially be harmful to your reputation and privacy. Data is then compiled in an easy-to-understand timelines. After that you work together to clean up, recreate and reinforce your online image. Although there are additional services for a small fee, service is completely free.
There are over 1200 registered companies that track your social networking activity and market this sensitive information, yet less than a quarter of the 2 billion people using social networks bother with any kind of privacy control. Sharing something as simple as your birthday, can lead to identity theft and fraud. Even when you think your social networking is locked down, breaches of personal information can occur via applications that interfere with your security controls, or surreptitious data mining that can occur with on-line searches.
Nowadays your online image means a lot. About 75% of hiring managers check candidates’ social profiles and 69% of recruiters have rejected candidates based on content in their social networks. Yikes. However, have in mind that although Real.Me helps you with your online image, it simply flags potentially objectionable content. It is up to you to take measures to remove or limit access to potentially objectionable content.
How does it work?
So how do you regain your online identity with Real.Me? There are three parts of the puzzle and for now they are available if you are using Chrome or Firefox. First is Privacy Defender is your online dashboard, or better to say extension that scans for privacy issues based on your Facebook, Google, Twitter and LinkedIn settings and take you directly to those settings you need to fix. It also removes your data from the largest people databases on the Deep Web and continuously monitors the web to make sure that your personal info stays gone.
Second is DoNotTrack that provides you exclusive access to what we call the «Invisible Web». Cookies, tags, web bugs, pixels, and beacons are all devious methods data brokers use to collect your personal data. Then you have the power to choose whether you want to block or to allow tracking of any particular site. Third is Mask that creates a one-time mail box, that bounces to your primary email address. Never share your email with another site you don’t trust and put an end to unwanted junk for good. That way you can put an end to invasive, unwanted mail.
Real.Me is sleek and elegant solution if you want to moderate your online identity. Even if you think you don’t need it, try it out. You may find that out there are things about you, that you didn’t know were out there. So don’t spill your online beans and get them in order!
