There are many reasons you may want to erase your communications identity – a simpler life, wanting to start afresh somewhere, avoiding someone or even just wanting to jettison any online or communications presence on principle.

Getting rid of your “finger-print,” however, is exceedingly difficult, but here are some tips.

Lose the Cell Phone

It might be your digital lifeline, but when you're trying to hide, your cell phone is a digital bull's eye. Those with the access can easily triangulate your position based on your cell signal. You don't even need to make a call, as phones are always talking to towers to get the best signal available. A built-in GPS only makes it easier.

If you can, take out the battery. You can always pop it back in for a true emergency. You can also leave the phone somewhere to misdirect tracers. The latter is best if you've got a phone with a battery you can't access. (Apple iPhones are not for fugitives.)

You don't have to go without phone access completely. Buy pre-paid phones on the cheap at a department store or gas station. Give one to your most trusted friend or loved one and keep the other. That way, only the two of you can talk or text. In 2010, Congress proposed a bill to ban selling anonymous pre-paid phones to fight terrorism. It stalled out, though, so you can still get one without showing ID in most states. For now.

For an extra layer of protection, don't use the phone to make a direct phone call. Instead, use a pre-paid calling card.

In addition, get some portable, solar-powered chargers for your gadgets.

Make Purchases Using Gift Cards

It's not impossible to make Web purchases while off the grid. Use your cash to purchase credit card gift cards, such as Visa or American Express. They're available just about anywhere. You can use them for purchases online and off and then chuck them after they're used up. (Try to rotate where you get deliveries.) The transaction with those cards is between the retailer and credit card company.

Forget Being Social

It's time to give up on Facebook and Twitter. If you can't go cold turkey, create anonymous accounts from remote locations. And for the love of all that's holy, don't friend or follow people you actually know.

Erase Info from Pictures

If you're still in the habit of sending or posting digital pictures online, at the very least, strip out the EXIF data on the image file. This information includes the make of the camera, date and time the pic was taken, and, with some modern cameras, geographical location info. With enough pics and time, someone could easily figure out where you've been, if not where you're going. The free EXIFstripper program for Windows will do it.

Encrypt Messages

You may still need to send some e-mails. Naturally, you'll set up a brand new account. Even then, its best to make sure no one can read what you send. To start, use Gmail from Google since it defaults to using SSL encryption when you're on the site. That'll help when you're using public Wi-Fi, if nothing else.

For super secrecy, you need to encrypt messages you send. For a double-whammy, access Gmail using Thunderbird, but utilize GPG (GNU Privacy Guard) to encrypt messages via the Enigmail plug-in.

A simpler tool is Encipher.it, an AES Ttext encryptor that works with Gmail or any other Web-based text. Click the

Encipher It bookmarklet you install, give the text an encryption key, watch it get garbled, and send it. The person on the other end needs the key to decipher it.

Don't Sign In

When it comes to free Wi-Fi, often you'll need to sign in, which means creating an account. Avoid these places, if you can. Starbucks and Barnes & Nobles are plentiful, and the AT&T Wi-Fi they use doesn't require anything more than clicking to reaccess every couple of hours. Once you're online, however, put a VPN to work for you to help prevent wireless snoopers from seeing what you're doing. Hotspot Shield will do this and it's free (or pay $30 to avoid seeing their ads). Or, you could set up a router with VPN support at a remote location and link to it direct (providing another hop for people to contemplate).

Reducing your digital footprint takes a lot of planning and once it is done, discipline. If you need to do so or want to do so, however, it is possible.

For more information on reducing or eliminating your communications presence, please visit PC Magazine.