My Vanity Search
My Digital Footprint
Our identity is no longer sacred with the creation of the Internet. There's definitely no anonymity anymore, whether you choose to see your name online or not. However, the amount of information one can find about their self is dependent on their digital presence. At the moment, I wouldn't consider myself to have a profound digital footprint but it's growing. I'll be honest, before this class, I had never heard of a vanity search. It took me some time but what I found what shocking.
My Search
It was shocking to see my personal information, that anyone can retrieve, with the push of a few buttons. Immediately, the first items to pop up were the social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest). Other items included my website from work and those related to my school district. It was interesting to see some of my friends and the people I work with in the photo section of the search. I didn't find any videos, but I did learn about two, little girls that share the same first and middle name. The more advanced searches lead to more information. Anyone can find my contact information, where I live(d), all of my names (including maiden), even members of my family. There was information posted related to my grandmother that passed away more than ten years ago!
It's really scary knowing how vulnerable a person's identity is and how easily it could be taken by conducting a simple search. I understand the risks involved when signing up for social media accounts, but the ability to retrieve more personal information is daunting. Conducting this search truly makes you think about any picture, video or whatever form of identifiable information taken in the future because it will become a part of your digital footprint.
Our identity is no longer sacred with the creation of the Internet. There's definitely no anonymity anymore, whether you choose to see your name online or not. However, the amount of information one can find about their self is dependent on their digital presence. At the moment, I wouldn't consider myself to have a profound digital footprint but it's growing. I'll be honest, before this class, I had never heard of a vanity search. It took me some time but what I found what shocking.
My Search
It was shocking to see my personal information, that anyone can retrieve, with the push of a few buttons. Immediately, the first items to pop up were the social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest). Other items included my website from work and those related to my school district. It was interesting to see some of my friends and the people I work with in the photo section of the search. I didn't find any videos, but I did learn about two, little girls that share the same first and middle name. The more advanced searches lead to more information. Anyone can find my contact information, where I live(d), all of my names (including maiden), even members of my family. There was information posted related to my grandmother that passed away more than ten years ago!
It's really scary knowing how vulnerable a person's identity is and how easily it could be taken by conducting a simple search. I understand the risks involved when signing up for social media accounts, but the ability to retrieve more personal information is daunting. Conducting this search truly makes you think about any picture, video or whatever form of identifiable information taken in the future because it will become a part of your digital footprint.
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