For those who use Firefox and are merely concerned with having usage data vacuumed up, there are guides on hardening the browser.
The Complete Firefox Privacy and Security Guide
Firefox Privacy – The Complete How-To Guide
If you are interested in seeing all of the companies that are spying on your usage with every site you visit, you can install an add-on like Lightbeam.
Related to the online accounts that many people already have, there is an option that was suggested to me by a serious privacy geek. According to this guy, many of the biggest data thieves (Facebook, Linkedin, etc.) have TOS that essentially allow them to keep some version of your usage data and personal information after you have deleted your account. He suggested neither to delete the account right away, nor to purge the page of usable information. Instead, he suggested to - over the course of perhaps a few weeks or months - add a whole bunch of useless and incorrect data to your account. *I don't know how much time a person would actually want to spend on this, but there was a software engineer who actually wrote a script that uploaded random data to his Facebook account.* Anyway, this guy told me to do that for a while and then close the account.
Another tip, and one I can confirm as useful for obfuscation, is to "modify" your own credit reports. In the US, you are allowed one free peek at your credit reports from the big three every year. See this site for instructions. Once you have these reports, you can dispute anything on them. Obviously I would not advise disputing legitimate outstanding debt. But, it is very, very easy to dispute address history and tell them where you "really lived". You could even go so far as to do them the favor of letting them know you currently live in that small apartment in Juneau, Alaska, or on that sailboat in Maui. Since we all know they are using this information for our own good, it's very important to make sure they have the most accurate data. HUGE CAVEAT: You are sometimes asked for this information when you request the reports or make an application for credit. Keep this in mind when you "amend" your own data.
The Complete Firefox Privacy and Security Guide
Firefox Privacy – The Complete How-To Guide
If you are interested in seeing all of the companies that are spying on your usage with every site you visit, you can install an add-on like Lightbeam.
Related to the online accounts that many people already have, there is an option that was suggested to me by a serious privacy geek. According to this guy, many of the biggest data thieves (Facebook, Linkedin, etc.) have TOS that essentially allow them to keep some version of your usage data and personal information after you have deleted your account. He suggested neither to delete the account right away, nor to purge the page of usable information. Instead, he suggested to - over the course of perhaps a few weeks or months - add a whole bunch of useless and incorrect data to your account. *I don't know how much time a person would actually want to spend on this, but there was a software engineer who actually wrote a script that uploaded random data to his Facebook account.* Anyway, this guy told me to do that for a while and then close the account.
Another tip, and one I can confirm as useful for obfuscation, is to "modify" your own credit reports. In the US, you are allowed one free peek at your credit reports from the big three every year. See this site for instructions. Once you have these reports, you can dispute anything on them. Obviously I would not advise disputing legitimate outstanding debt. But, it is very, very easy to dispute address history and tell them where you "really lived". You could even go so far as to do them the favor of letting them know you currently live in that small apartment in Juneau, Alaska, or on that sailboat in Maui. Since we all know they are using this information for our own good, it's very important to make sure they have the most accurate data. HUGE CAVEAT: You are sometimes asked for this information when you request the reports or make an application for credit. Keep this in mind when you "amend" your own data.
Currently out of office.