Last reviewed: July 2, 2026
Use this checklist in stages. Start with your home address, primary email, phone account, financial identity, and current location.
Looking for the full explanations behind each item? See the Online Privacy and Personal Safety guide. Download the printable PDF version.
Find What Is Exposed
- □ Search my full name, former names, and nicknames
- □ Search my phone numbers and email addresses
- □ Search usernames and profile photographs
- □ Search my home and former addresses
- □ Check people-search and data-broker sites
- □ Check property, voter, business, court, and professional records
- □ Check old accounts, PDFs, directories, and archived pages
- □ Inspect photographs for location metadata and visible location clues
Reduce My Footprint
- □ Remove unnecessary address, phone, birth-date, and family information
- □ Submit data-broker opt-outs and record recheck dates
- □ Close unused accounts
- □ Separate public and private contact information
- □ Use service-specific email aliases where useful
- □ Ask family and friends not to post my address, schedule, or live location
- □ Review whether an address-confidentiality option applies to me
Protect My Identity
- □ Consider freezing credit with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion
- □ Know how to place a fraud alert
- □ Review credit reports for unfamiliar accounts or inquiries
- □ Save the IdentityTheft.gov recovery information
- □ Keep important financial and identity notices
Secure Accounts and Phone Number
- □ Secure my primary email first
- □ Use a password manager and unique passwords
- □ Use passkeys or hardware security keys where available
- □ Use an authenticator app instead of SMS where practical
- □ Save backup codes away from my everyday phone
- □ Review recovery addresses, numbers, devices, and sessions
- □ Check email forwarding rules and connected apps
- □ Add a carrier PIN, port-out lock, or transfer protection
- □ Treat sudden loss of cellular service as a possible SIM-swap warning
Protect Devices and Browsing
- □ Install operating-system, browser, and app updates
- □ Use a strong screen lock and device encryption
- □ Enable device finding, remote locking, and remote erase
- □ Audit location, camera, microphone, contacts, photos, and file permissions
- □ Remove unused apps, browser extensions, and connected services
- □ Review live-location and family-location sharing
- □ Review advertising ID and ad-privacy controls
- □ Block third-party cookies and trackers where practical
- □ Remove photo location metadata before sensitive posts
Prepare for Harassment or Doxxing
- □ Write down who I will contact
- □ Identify someone who can monitor and document abuse
- □ Know how to make accounts private quickly
- □ Create a secure evidence folder and incident log
- □ Decide when to contact a platform, employer, school, attorney, advocate, or emergency service
- □ Make a household communication and safety plan
- □ Keep a copy of the plan outside my primary account
If I Suspect Stalkerware
- □ Use a safer device and make a safety plan before changing settings or passwords
Maintain
- □ Search my name and contact details monthly
- □ Review privacy settings and app permissions quarterly
- □ Recheck broker removals
- □ Review active sessions and connected apps
- □ Update my response plan annually
- □ Repeat the review after a move, new public role, threat, breach, or lost device
Complete privacy is rarely possible. The goal is to reduce unnecessary exposure, make misuse harder, and be prepared to respond.
Download: Personal Online Privacy Checklist (PDF) — a printable version with real checkboxes for offline use.