Opt Out 01 | The guide to taking back control of your online life

We all know the internet knows a bit about us. But… how much, exactly? And what happens if you actually try to look?

In the first episode of Opt Out, Rae volunteers as tribute and starts poking around her own digital footprint — checking data breaches, Googling herself, and asking some pretty uncomfortable questions about where our personal info ends up. Along the way, she chats with investigative tech reporter Yael Grauer about how our data spreads, and Troy Hunt, the creator of Have I Been Pwned, before typing her own email into his incredibly revealing website.

This is the place to start if you’ve ever thought about pulling back from the internet without disappearing into the bush.

Opt Out is Download This Show's five-part series following Rae as she attempts to take back control of her online life — auditing, deleting, and locking down her own digital life, one step at a time, so you can too.

Technical production by Riley Mellis.