What is a
Digital Footprint?
Your digital footprint is a trail or record consisting of data left behind by your activities on the web. It is an online identity that embodies your presence on the internet and paints a picture of who you are. It can build impressions based on the data backing it and is hard to build up, but simple to bring down. In the future, your digital footprint will carry far more weight than anything you may include on your resume. One wrong click could permanently alter your future, for the better or the worse. Below are some of the many ways we leave behind footprints.
01. Social Media
The majority of your activity on social media will leave traces, even if they are private. Social media platforms may even introduce new default settings or policies to make data more transparent (see Facebook data abuse scandal). Making sure you monitor your accounts carefully and minimizing private information will reduce your vulnerability to data mining.
02. Websites
Online sites will often leave cookies in your system. A cookie is a packet of data that your computer receives and sends back to the browser. These can track your movement across the internet and occasionally keep records of these movements. These cookies may also periodically record your sign-in information, allowing you to store passwords on frequently visited sites.
03. Browsers
It's not just the websites themselves that are harvesting your data. The browsers you use to access the internet also sweep through data files and report them to websites you visit. Such information usually starts with the basic, including your current location, what you're clicking, and what device you are operating. Your browser will then continue to disclose an IP address, your system information, and potentially what other applications you are running at the time. Sites will use cookies, as discussed earlier, to help log this information. In the end, data collecting is not... bad, per say. It helps to keep websites up and running. You just have to be wary of what information you are sharing and who you are sharing it with.