Reducing what's available to copy

Cloning a voice takes a few seconds of audio. Building a convincing face takes a handful of photographs. You can't reduce that to zero, and trying would cost you more than it's worth — but most people are supplying far more than they realise, for no benefit at all.

Aim for less, not none

Some people respond to this by deciding to vanish from the internet. That's usually the wrong trade: it costs real connection with family and friends, and it doesn't work anyway, since other people post photographs of you regardless.

A better goal is reducing the easy supply — the material a stranger can gather in ten minutes without knowing you. Almost nobody is targeted with any effort. Making yourself moderately inconvenient is enough to matter.

Where voice actually leaks from

People assume voice recordings are rare. They're usually the easiest part to find:

Videos on public social accounts — birthdays, holidays, anything where you're talking.
Your voicemail greeting, which anyone who calls can hear on demand and is the single most common source.
Recorded meetings, webinars, club or church events posted publicly.
Podcast appearances, interviews, and local news clips, which are often the most durable.

A five-minute change worth making

Replace a personal voicemail greeting with the standard automated one, or a short generic line. It removes a clean, high-quality sample of your voice that is available to anyone who dials your number, including a stranger who dials it precisely to collect that sample. Nothing else on this page is as easy or as effective.

A sweep you can do in an evening

Make personal accounts private. Not deleted — private. Your family still sees everything; strangers see nothing. This one change removes most of the accessible photographs and video of an ordinary person in a single step.
Look yourself up as a stranger would. Search your name in a private browsing window, and check the image results too. You'll find things you'd forgotten. That's the point — this is precisely the ten minutes someone else would spend.
Prune the highest-value material. You don't need to delete years of posts. Concentrate on clear video of you speaking and clean, well-lit photographs of your face straight on, since those are worth the most for copying.
Ask family to stop tagging. An awkward conversation, but a photo of you on a public account is public regardless of your own settings. Explaining why usually gets a better response than asking.
Be careful with children's material. Photographs and video of children carry particular risk. Sharing within private groups rather than publicly is worth the small inconvenience.

The trade-off, stated honestly

Reducing what's available makes you a harder target. It does not make you safe, and it never will — someone determined can work with a poor sample, and a family member's public account can undo your caution entirely. Treat this as lowering the odds, not closing the door. The code word from the voice cloning page is what actually protects you; this page just makes the attempt less likely to be attempted at all.

What not to bother with

Services promising to erase you from the internet mostly cannot deliver what they imply, and some collect a fresh copy of your personal details in order to try. Deleting old accounts you no longer use is worthwhile and free. Paying someone monthly to chase data brokers is a much bigger commitment for a much smaller return, and it's not a substitute for anything on this page.