Having the laws in place is one thing. Implementing or enforcing them is quite another.
I think there will be many law changes in the near future regarding Data protection etc and the internet. if things don't change no-one will be employable in the future because of something they wrote on an imaginary wall
...is it even possible?
Got a couple of emails recently from a website for a long forgotten hobby - I'm sure there are loads more corners of the web that have my details from other hobbies, interests and services that I have signed up to over the years but no longer use.
Is it possible to go back and delete all this unused stuff or is it permanently stored?
Is there even such a thing as privacy anymore if you use the internet?
Where I may have consented to t&cs when I wanted to use the service - what happens if I wish to revoke my consent.
Or is it a case of being stuck now knowing that my footprint is all around the web and there is no way of removing it?
The answer is simple: Don't buy computer, mobile phone, etc., don't register for email address, don't register for social media websites, don't do online shopping, etc., totally no access to the Internet, just live in a cottage in a quite countryside, only use old fashion paper and pen, read newspapers, simple television (not one of those Smart Televisions), etc., live your life like it's before the 1930's. When you go to the supermarket for your shopping, don't register for bonus cards, loyalty cards, etc., and you may have a very smaller footprint on the Internet, of if lucky, none at all.
in this case prevention is more likely to help than trying to go back and undo everything.That doesn't help if one has already had a presence online though does it. Doesn't remove what already there.
The answer is simple: Don't buy computer, mobile phone, etc., don't register for email address, don't register for social media websites, don't do online shopping, etc., totally no access to the Internet, just live in a cottage in a quite countryside, only use old fashion paper and pen, read newspapers, simple television (not one of those Smart Televisions), etc., live your life like it's before the 1930's. When you go to the supermarket for your shopping, don't register for bonus cards, loyalty cards, etc., and you may have a very smaller footprint on the Internet, of if lucky, none at all.
in this case prevention is more likely to help than trying to go back and undo everything.
That doesn't help if one has already had a presence online though does it. Doesn't remove what already there.
It do if you're Tarzan. Assuming that someone found you, brought you back to civilization, before you could even touch a computer for the first time, you read in books, magazines, newspapers, and heard talks from other people about it, then you decided never to use a computer, and never wanted to log on the Internet at all.
The very fact that "Delete myself from the internet", is the thread title, suggests the OP has already done all of the above, does it not? That and the fact that the question's raised on an Internet Forum.
Do try to keep up
...is it even possible?
Got a couple of emails recently from a website for a long forgotten hobby - I'm sure there are loads more corners of the web that have my details from other hobbies, interests and services that I have signed up to over the years but no longer use.
Is it possible to go back and delete all this unused stuff or is it permanently stored?
Is there even such a thing as privacy anymore if you use the internet?
Where I may have consented to t&cs when I wanted to use the service - what happens if I wish to revoke my consent.
Or is it a case of being stuck now knowing that my footprint is all around the web and there is no way of removing it?