Pew Internet Report - "Digital Footprints"

The Pew Internet Report, Digital Footprints, by Mary Madden, Susannah Fox, Aaron Smith, and Jessica Vitak discusses how personal information is changing due to the popularity of the Web and social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Virtually everybody has a digital footprint, or a trail of online information, whether it is personal details that are entered intentionally or information that is uploaded by another party, and it’s important to understand that this information can be searchable by anyone, and furthermore, that it’s attached to an individual forever.

Although most online adults are aware that the information that they make available is open to the world, they don’t take steps to protect this information. I’m surprised by this because I, like 21% of adult Internet users, am cautious about the information that I post online (ii). Usually, I don’t even update my status on Facebook because I don’t necessarily want everybody to know what I’m doing or what I’m thinking.

I do regulate the amount and type of personal details that I post on the Web, but I don’t often search for information about myself. I fortunately and unfortunately have a very common name. In addition to the 4,500 Jessica Moore’s with a Facebook account, there is a Jessica Moore porn star, WNBA player, and Australian tennis player. It disappoints me because I don’t want a potential employer or an acquaintance to think that I’m one of these other girls (especially the porn star), but it’s also comforting because although I don’t post negative information online, I do like privacy. However, I fall into the minority - 87% of individuals who search for information about themselves online say that the information is accurate (iii).

Like most Internet users, I’m not sure how much of my personal information is available online, aside from the information that I actively provide on Facebook. On my profile, I list my political affiliation, who I date, my favorite TV shows, what I like to do in my spare time, and I occasionally post photos. I’m not sure, however, about my passive digital footprint, which is “personal data made accessible online with no deliberate intervention from an individual (3).” I’m sure that my e-mail address, home address, and employer are somewhere on the open Web, but I didn’t find them through a simple Google search.

Even though I don’t Google my own name all that often, I do regularly use a search engine to find information on other people, and in fact more than 50% of online adults have also done this. Usually, I (and the others) am searching for contact information or we are searching for somebody from our past that we lost contact with (iv).

Before the reading, I knew that a digital footprint follows every Internet user around, but this article made me think. I’ve come to expect that an individual’s personal and basic information is available; I didn’t consider that this sort of information used to take professional investigators months to find. Even though I consider myself to be cautious of the material that I post online, I don’t like the idea that a random person could potentially find out where I work, who my friends are, and where I live.

Works Cited

Madden, Mary, Susannah Fox, Aaron Smith, Jessica Vitak. "Digital Footprints." Pew Internet & American Life Project. 16 Dec. 2007. 17 Oct. 2009 http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2007/Digital-Footprints.aspx>