Swimming Pools, Pee, and Trying to Delete Your Data From the Internet

I can't recall if someone else originally came up with this saying or if I said it in some off-the-cuff comment and it just propagated, but since it's often attributed back to me, I'll relay it here regardless:Trying to delete yourself from the internet is like trying to take piss out of a swimming poolDepending on the publication, I'll tailor the saying to be either more broadly palatable or more, uh, "Australian", but the sentiment doesn't change: once data spreads on the internet, you can never put a lid on it. This is important in the context of data breaches because it speaks to the immutability of our exposed personal information. It also speaks to the limited practicality of services that promise to erase your data from the internet, and it's the constant outreach from these organisations looking for marketing opportunities on Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) that's prompted me to write this.Let's begin with those services, and because there are so many and I don't want to throw any of…