William N. Johnson

“Privacy is not an option, and it shouldn’t be the price we accept for just getting on the Internet.”

— Gary Kovacs

These days it feels like many websites are asking for my email and phone number before I can even blink. I treat both like valuables, not giveaways. My inbox and phone line are private spaces, and I protect them with the same care I give to my bank account.

It all started when I realized just how messy the online world really is. The first wake-up call was the scam job market. Online job hunting is a minefield. Fake job listings, shady startups promising they’ll pay you when they get traction, and outright scams designed to harvest personal data are everywhere. Even platforms I trusted, like LinkedIn and Indeed, can’t catch all of them. Every time I considered sharing my personal email or phone number, I realized I could be feeding a scammer’s pipeline. Once they have your info, it’s not just spam. Some postings try to phish sensitive details or trick you into paying upfront for training or equipment. And I’m tired of it all!

And then there are the “work-for-free” exit scams. This is a special kind of awful. The company might ask you to complete a “small project” as a final step in the hiring process. This isn’t your average 30-minute coding challenge. They want you to build an entire feature, or sometimes, a whole section of their product. You work for hours, sometimes days, pouring your time and skill into what you think is a legitimate test. But that “project” is the product itself. Once you submit the work, they take your code, implement it, and then vanish. The website disappears, the “recruiter” ghosts you, and the company’s social media accounts go dark. They got free labor, and you’re left with nothing but wasted time and the sinking feeling you were just a cog in a broader exit scam. It’s a frustrating and exhausting wild goose chase, leaving you with a lingering sense of vulnerability and a mountain of cleanup.

The Unseen Dangers of Data

Then there’s the misuse of personal data, something I experienced firsthand. At one point, I strongly suspect my online activity led to my address being leaked. Not long after, someone physically destroyed my mailbox, not once but twice (the first time in May 2023, and the second time a year later). I can’t prove the connection, but the timing was too coincidental to ignore. I actually feared for my life. If someone is willing to destroy my mailbox, who knows what they might do next? That’s completely messed up. And it’s not even about oversharing. These scammers are relentless. They’ll go to extreme lengths if they think you have something valuable to them. I don’t even know what they wanted from me, but dealing with it was awful and exhausting. This experience made it crystal clear that personal information online is more dangerous than most people realize.

Much of your personal information is already floating around on the internet, often without your consent. Sites like Spokeo, Whitepages, and countless other data-aggregation platforms collect phone numbers, addresses, and more. I spend a lot of time trying to remove my information wherever I can, but some sites are nearly impossible to deal with. They are often paywalled, forcing you to pay just to see if your own details are listed. It feels absurd. Here I am trying to protect my privacy, and the system basically asks me to pay to check on myself. I’ve even thought about legal action, but lawsuits cost money and unless you’re a celebrity with deep pockets, there’s no realistic way to make these sites remove your information. Honestly, it’s incredibly frustrating that data brokers can legally get away with this kind of exploitation.

The AI Plague and Constant Marketing

If that wasn’t enough, the rise of AI-generated content has made spotting fraud an adversarial battleground. Fake job sites now churn out realistic-sounding listings, convincing recruiter profiles, and entire company websites in minutes. I’ve seen offers for AI startups that are clearly just data-harvesting schemes designed to look legitimate to anyone not paying close attention. At this point, I almost expect these bots to start sending me thank you notes for my personal information.

Even when a company is legitimate, sharing your email or phone number often opens the floodgates to marketing you never asked for. Give a site your contact info once, and suddenly you’re subscribed to a lifetime of spam, partner offers, robocalls, and surveys. Unsubscribing works occasionally, but it often feels like plugging holes in a leaky dam with chewing gum. It is simply easier to keep my real contact info out of reach from the start.

My Digital Defense

So what do I do instead? I compartmentalize my digital identity. I use Google Voice for calls and texts, keeping my real number private. I maintain a separate burner email for signups and online forms, while my private email never touches job boards or sketchy websites. None of this is tied to my social accounts or banking. And unfortunately, there are moments where I have to use a real phone number, because some websites don’t accept Google Voice or temporary numbers.

I also use a VPN or VPS when visiting untrusted sites, sometimes relying on Proton’s free VPN or a Slate router, depending on what’s convenient at the moment. On top of that, I follow strong security habits: unique passwords, a password manager, two-factor authentication (2FA) everywhere possible, and I even keep a physical security key. I swear I’m not paranoid. I’m just taking these precautions seriously because of how bad things have gotten. That way, even if one email or number ends up on a spam list, my real life stays quiet.

The takeaway is simple. Be deliberate about what you share. Every time you hand out your email or phone number, think about who is really getting it, how they might use it, and whether it’s worth exposing yourself to scams, AI-generated junk, relentless marketing, or data aggregation sites. For me, the answer is almost always no. That’s why my personal email and phone number stay private, and why my inbox, voicemail, and sanity stay intact.