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Whether you're a spy, someone worried about data privacy and security, or just a regular person with a backlog of terrible memes, it may have crossed your mind that you might one day want to delete every last trace of yourself from the Internet.
It would appear you are not alone, as a Twitter thread explaining precisely how to delete yourself from 99 percent of the Internet has gone mega-viral.
Twitter user and self-described "code-monkey" @somenerdliam – you won't be surprised to learn he does not list his full name publicly – tweeted out the advice on Tuesday, which has been shared by over 100,000 users.
First up, he advises that you track down your old email logins.
Next, you need to dig around in your emails for all those newsletters you signed up to without really thinking about it, who now have your data.
"For some services, you may want to purge all content and messages before you delete the account, as the account may be archived and a hacker or external entity may access this information at a later date," he continues. "That's something to bear in mind."
He then advises that you need to check if your information has already been compromised, using the usernames and services you have scraped from your current and old email accounts. Here's where it gets complicated.
He suggests you then use public site haveibeenpwned.com to check if you have, in fact, been pwned. If you have, you can change your account information in order to get around this. haviebeenpowned.com won't list all compromised accounts (just those in databases of private information that have already been leaked, not databases that are being sold off in private).
Now it's time to delete yourself from Google.
He believes you shouldn't be letting Google touch any of your precious data.
Think you're now safe? You still aren't done, you easily hackable fool.
I hope you like remembering passwords, because that's what you're going to be doing from now on.
Now, finally, it's time to start deleting your terrible memes.
Apologies, but this next bit basically involves jettisoning all your friends.
"This thread was brought to you by someone who [was] hacking accounts and systems at the age of 11," he concludes, terrifyingly. "There [are] much more talented and scarier threats out there now, not to mention most of your money is now online. Protect yourself at all costs, it's only a few hours."
