Cleanse

Day Fourteen: Replace Account Info

Large font says Accounts on a clipboard, with computer keyboard, splashes of color, glasses and an accounting file.
Logins, usernames, and passwords, oh my! (Credit: R M Media Ltd CC-A-Sharealike)

Today is reserved for a very simple, but a very time-consuming task. Today you will start switching your KEEP accounts over to an email mask and a generated password.

If those accounts have a credit card on file, you will create a Privacy card and replace what is there with a credit card mask, perhaps even a made up billing address.

You will save this new information in your Password vault

Instructions: Short and Sweet

The best way to do this is to be methodical. Go back to your Roadmap, where you've written down which accounts you'll LOSE (or migrate) and which you will KEEP. Sort out your list to find the ones you want to KEEP.

Working with the password manager you have just set up, visit each website of the service you want to keep, and do the following:

  1. Log in with your current credentials (email address, username, password)
  2. Find the "Account Info" or "User Settings" menu item
  3. Locate how to Change your Password.
  4. Change it to something auto-generated by your new password manager, and save the new password in the manager. (It should do this automatically but you may need to copy and paste the new password)
  5. Locate how to Change your Email.
  6. Change it to an email address using your masking program of choice. Save this new login email with the new password in your password manager.
  7. Locate how to change your billing info (if it exists on the site)
  8. Change your credit card to a Privacy Card.
  9. If you can and are so inclined, change your billing address as well to something innocuous, or write your address out in a way such that you can retrace that account if need be (i.e. add an address line with the service name in it after your address)
  10. If you'd like, you can sign up for Phone Masking from Firefox Relay and provide an alternative phone number. This is up to you.

Then log out, and repeat with the next service on your list.

Which Accounts Need Changing?

Please note that your mileage will always vary. Some accounts you absolutely do want your real information linked to. Maybe your electric company bills, your internet service address, or your banking information--you don't want those account notifications going to some other address. It's okay to render to Caesar in those cases!

But for throwaway accounts, kids' rotating activities, spa day packs, supermarket purchases, CVS or Target loyalty accounts, Hulu or YouTube or whatever -- honestly, you don't need to give away all your information to everyone.

This also goes for your threat level assessment. Some of these accounts are super duper private because they have really important information in them. Some of them deserve a mask or a throwaway email address because you don't want them linked to your personal information or identity. You are the only one who can judge.

Fortunately, you'll keep your password manager handy so that every one of those judgments is recorded. You won't forget your email masks or your passwords because you will have them with you, wherever you go.

This is a short post because this task will take a while. Get started today and see how many you can get done in one sitting! Every day you will be able to chip away at this task and convert accounts over, one after the other, to a more private and secure way of living online.

You can do this easily in an evening instead of doomscrolling Instagram. And that's good news because after all, you just left Instagram!

Keep in mind, too, that every time you sign up for a new acount you'll go through the same steps. Identify how much of your personal information you want to give away. Then, working with your email masks, credit card masks, and password manager, create separate identities wherever you go.

By the end, you should have a carefully curated list of accounts that are working for you, not against you.

 

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