Over the past few months I've been thinking a lot about privacy. In particular, data privacy. I started thinking about what data companies hold about me, either voluntary data provided by me, inferred data or data given to them by other data processors. I used to sign up for every service under the sun and for 95% of them, I'd stop using within 3 months. I've accumulated a lot of digital clutter over the years, and now I'm decluttering.

Not only did I start thinking of all the places where my data was, but also what companies like Google and Facebook do to track me and my interests across the web.

I’m on a mission to move to technologies that respect our time, attention, privacy, and security. Starting with being more conscious to who I give my data, and what will they do with it. The folks at Basecamp (the makers of HEY) have a thoughtful track record on this front, which is why I moved to HEY full time earlier this year on January 1. While I first came to know Basecamp about a decade ago, it wasn't until HEY was released that I really started looking into how they operate, their Handbook, and reading their books.

I'm also closing down any unused accounts and exercising my right to erasure on services that no longer fit my needs. Think of it as a digital detox. By limiting the amount of sources that have my data, I can more easily keep track of who has my data, what do they have and how do they use it. I've been going through all my entries on 1Password and deleting any accounts that I no longer use. My current item count in my vault is at around 670, way too many logins for sites I have probably just logged in once.

With the advent of legislation like GDPR, CCPA and the new Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, governments are realizing the amount of data companies are gathering and are giving rights to constituents to exercise their right to data privacy. To help others exercise their rights, I became a member of Datenanfragen.de, a german non-profit which helps people exercise their right to data privacy and helped them translate their website to Spanish, broadening their reach.

We have gotten used to giving our data to anyone who asks without really thinking how will it be used and that data is often shared with others. Data is becoming extremely valuable for companies, and some say it's the modern day oil. The more information they have on you, your likes, your habits, the easier they can target you with hyper-relevant messages.

In fact, just today I stumbled into a website I have never been before, and their home screen was personalized to me. Using data feeds from other sources as well as cookie tracking, they could personalize my visit before I even set foot on their website, and it persisted across browsers and incognito windows!

While being completely off the grid is not feasible, I can certainly start limiting the amount of data that exists roaming around about me and who do I give it to. Combined with legislation like GDPR I can make sure companies delete my data if they no longer need it or if I no longer use their service and don't wan't it lingering forever.

If you're in the EU (doesn't matter if you're an EU citizen or not, as long as you're physically present in an EU member state), I strongly suggest you use your GDPR rights to find out what companies have about you and submit erasure requests to companies you're no longer doing business with. We have a handy generator over at datarequests.org with a broad company database that will help you exercise your right to data privacy.