Quick reminder: Most old cellphones can still call 911 even without a plan. Federal law requires all cellphones to connect to emergency services, even if they don’t have active service. A 2-year-old in Oklahoma put this to the test by calling for an emergency donut delivery. The dispatcher played along, and the police showed up with Dunkin’ treats.
I wasted 36 hours trying to do it myself
© Fizkes | Dreamstime.com
So many of the calls, emails, messages and DMs I get are about privacy and security. I can’t remember the last time I had a full day where no one asked me some version of “How do I get all this info about me off the internet?”
It’s not just you. It’s me, too. After finding my personal cellphone number available on a free people-search site last year, I made it my mission to scrub everything online about me. There are literally hundreds of companies and sites that collect personal info, and they make it extremely hard to get your data removed. Why? Because they profit from selling your data — and mine.
I called the series Opt-Out Tuesday. We put together articles, newsletters and radio segments promoting it. I shared the steps in my nationally syndicated columns. And yet …
I didn’t make a dent
To be fair, we heard from a ton of people who had success following our instructions and removing their info. In fact, the big people search site networks got so peeved, they changed the steps to remove your data after one of my articles went viral.
I spent 36 hours emailing the scummy sites, filling out forms, making calls and even sending letters by USPS. I gave up when I had no real progress. That’s when I researched services to do this for me. I tried three, and I ultimately picked Incogni.
It took me about 3 minutes
Creating an account was easy, and I was immediately opted out of 27 databases, with 47 more requests sent. Now we’re talking about hundreds of sites I’m opted out of with no extra work on my end.
All you have to do is create an account and then enter your name and address. These sites require this info to remove your data — so you’d do that whether or not you use Incogni. Bonus: You can add up to three addresses and three phone numbers, too, so they can catch all the sneaky records.
Then, you grant Incogni permission to reach out on your behalf. After you finish the setup process, you’ll see a list of sites you’ve been removed from and pending requests.
So much data left exposed for anyone to see
© Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com
Another day, another monumental data breach. Just because they’re getting more common doesn’t mean you can tune it out. In fact, it’s time to get even more serious about your private information and what’s posted online.
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🌴 It’s not just beds anymore: Airbnb just leveled up with its new services live in 260+ cities. The app now offers spa treatments, private chefs, personal trainers and more. Basically, it evolved from “couch in Berlin” to celebrity-led adventures like Megan Thee Stallion’s anime-themed “Otaku Hottie Quest,” whatever that means.
82%
K-12 schools hit by cybercriminals from July 2023 to December 2024. That’s over 9,300 incidents. Most happened when staff fell for phishing scams. But they didn’t just lose data. Some attacks forced schools to close and affected meals and special education services.
🍪 Crumble the cookie’s Edge: To keep the trackers away in Edge, click the three dots (top-right corner) for Settings. Click on Privacy, Search, and Services and find Tracking Prevention. Set it to either Basic, Balanced (Edge’s recommendation) or Strict for more protection.
What caused the Windows outage?
Here’s the full story as to what caused airlines, emergency services, and banks to shutdown.
🚨 Fake health insurance: Scammers are offering “discounted” medical plans that don’t actually cover anything but your steady descent into rage headaches. Red flags? Pressure to act fast or promises of free services that sneak in extra fees. PSA: Look up the provider on the Better Business Bureau to check if an offer is legit.
Nvidia’s dropping personal AI computers: This is something. The DGX PCs are built for researchers, developers, robotics engineers, data scientists and students. The big perk? You can tune AI models locally instead of relying on expensive cloud services. They’re not cheap. Prices start at $4,000! Reserve yours here.
Watch your pulse: If you have no pulse and don’t move for 20 seconds, Google’s Pixel Watch 3 calls emergency services. The FDA just gave Google the go-ahead to roll it out. Have one? Go to Safety & emergency > Loss of Pulse Detection to turn it on.
🇨🇳 Communist China’s at it again: Now, China’s sending hackers after Microsoft 365 accounts, mostly in the financial services and insurance biz. Their method of choice is password spraying, aka attempting to log in to accounts with all the most common, weakest passwords. This is your friendly reminder to use a complex password for every single account.
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When you don’t excel, people spreadsheet: On Tuesday, July 30, Outlook was stalling, the Starbucks app crashed and Office 365 was down for eight hours. We now know a cyberattack took down the cloud computing system Microsoft Azure and a ton of apps and services with it. D’oh! Microsoft’s attempts to stop the attacks actually made the outages worse.
😬 CrowdStrike’s in the hot seat: Its CEO will testify before Congress after crippling emergency services, hospitals and airlines around the world. Speaking of airlines … Delta is also under federal investigation for leaving solo-traveling kids stranded across the U.S. when its systems went down. Really, Delta?
No more green texts with your Android buddy: Apple now supports Rich Communication Services — in iOS 18 beta, at least. Once this hits prime time this fall, you can send and receive high-quality photos and videos, know when they’re typing, and get read receipts, no matter the device.
Another health care data breach: WebTPA provides admin services to health benefit plans and insurance companies. Hackers stole the names, contact details, birth and death dates, Social Security numbers and insurance info of 2.4 million people in April 2023. Yes, it happened over a year ago and we’re just hearing about it now. The company’s CEO basically said, “It’s no big deal.” Yeah, not for you.
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