Digital footprint

Digital footprint is a term that refers to any information about a person that is available online. Digital footprints include many types of data, including social media information, credit card histories, and search engine histories. The more information that is available about a person, the larger the person's digital footprint. Most people's digital footprints are larger than they realize, which can have significant privacy and security implications, as well as other complex social impacts.

Overview

There are two types of digital footprints: active and passive. An active digital footprint includes all the digital information left by a person's intentional actions, such as making a social media post or filling out an online survey. A passive digital footprint includes information left without the user's direct intent. This commonly includes IP address tracking and other automated data collection by HTTP cookies.

A person's active digital footprint is perhaps most notably generated through social media activity. Creating a profile and posting on a social networking website, such as Facebook or LinkedIn, is a deliberate act that by necessity logs information about the user. Any personal information posted online through these platforms, such as relationships, interests, work histories, addresses, and contact information, becomes part of a person's active digital footprint. However, social media is not the only source. Contributions to blogs or any other websites also leave a digital trace of the user, even if they do not volunteer their real name. Emails, chatroom conversations, surveys and other forms, and virtually every other type of online communication can become part of a user's active footprint.

Data intentionally provided by a user is often stored indefinitely. It may or may not be made publicly available by default. For example, on many social media platforms, there may be privacy settings the user can select to limit who can see certain posts or information. However, users also typically must agree to a website or application's terms of service, which may give a company leeway to use personal information in various ways. One common use is to sell personal information to third parties for advertising purposes. The extent of such activity has often drawn controversy and legal action. It can also blur the line between active and passive digital footprints when users expect to share information in one way but find their data being used in other ways as well.

Unlike an active digital footprint, a passive digital footprint is created involuntarily. Simply using a digital device, especially in an online context, creates information that often can be traced back to the user. This is most commonly achieved with tools called "cookies," which websites use to track visitors' IP address, browsing history, geolocation, and other information. This allows the website or application to create individual profiles of each user, which is often useful for functional purposes but is also crucial to targeted advertising and other enterprises.

The information in a person's digital footprint, both active and passive, is highly valuable to others. Internet browsing histories are valuable to online retailers and webmasters looking to increase the number of people who visit their pages. Employment histories, criminal records, and information displayed through social networking are valuable to employers for screening new job applicants. Even seemingly minor, impersonal user data—such as the time of day a website was accessed—can provide businesses and other organizations with valuable insights when analyzed as part of big data sets. The act of collecting this information in bulk is called data mining. Researchers in virtually every field have analyzed large data sets of digital footprint information as part of efforts to better understand human behavior. This is often called "reality mining."

The lucrative nature of digital footprints for businesses and researchers has raised numerous concerns over fair use and privacy. Numerous lawsuits and regulatory efforts have attempted to give users more control over their personal data. Meanwhile, the value of digital footprints also attracts much criminal activity. Credit card information, phone numbers, addresses, and other personal identifiers are valuable to criminals engaged in identity theft. Many websites and businesses store customer's personal information for long periods of time. Even though most companies take reasonable security measures, they may still be subject to data breaches by malicious hackers. Even legally accessible information in a person's digital footprint may be appropriated for criminal purposes.

People should be aware that digital footprints are most likely permanent. It can be difficult, if not impossible, for people to find all the data that has been collected about them. Even if they manage to find the data, having it removed is a long and difficult process. While it may be relatively straightforward to remove data from active websites, it still probably exists in the form of cached pages, which are recorded copies of old versions of websites archived by a computer program and put in a database. Removing data from cached pages is sometimes impossible.

While it is likely impossible for most people to eliminate their digital footprint, it is possible to minimize it and control it and maintain some online privacy. Security experts recommend that people should avoid putting personal data such as phone numbers, addresses, and major life events on social media. They should be careful about what permissions are granted to their computer and smartphone applications. It may also be advisable to disable location services on a device when not directly needed. Additionally, security professionals recommend using caution when making online purchases, paying attention to website service agreements, and checking security and privacy settings on all devices and applications.

Bibliography

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