Blog Post #9: Digital Tattoo
Digital Tattoos
image source: ubyssey.ca
Digital Tattoos vs. Digital Footprints
This week, I explored the idea of digital tattoos vs. digital footprints. As someone with many tattoos, I appreciate this reference as I understand these choices are permanent. Digital tattoos are forever, while digital footprints can wash away. I chose several websites to find information about myself that is publicly available on the Internet. Aside from my PLN project, blog, and professional website for this course, I do not have any public social media accounts. None of my social media accounts have my real name. These are the results of what I found while using these different platforms.
Peek You
image source: Peek You
Searching myself on Peek You was interesting. Much of the information on this website was outdated or wrong. For example, Peek You had my middle initial as "I" when that is incorrect. My age and address were also not updated. An email was listed for me that I have never used or knew existed. Even so, I did find some accurate information on this site. The degree I earned and the school I attended were both correct. I thought the "PeekScore" was interesting. According to the website, a person's PeekScore grows and shrinks based on the amount of information they make public on the Internet. Peek You also has an option to request to remove information for their website. I did request to have my information removed after viewing this.
image source: Peek You
Spokeo
When using Spokeo to search myself, I didn't find much. I entered my name (even including my middle initial at one point) and there were too many search results to sift through. When I entered my personal email, Spokeo found 1 social media account linked to it. In order to unlock more information, I was asked to pay 95 cents, which I did not do. Overall, I could not find much information about myself on this website.
image source: Spokeo
Truth Finder
Out of the websites I've used for this assignment, Truth Finder was the strangest. I had to enter a bunch of information and also agree that I might see "the shocking truth" about my records. This website accurately displayed my name, some of the cities I have lived in, and family members. There were also a few places and family members that were not accurate. Because I had to pay over $28 to access the report, I did not open the file to see what information was found. However, I did receive a report quality score that shows the accuracy of the report and the information that was found.
image source: Truth Finder
Although I didn't find much about myself while Googling my name, I did find a lot when searching up a screen name I often use in social media accounts. This includes my comments on Facebook posts, tags in Instagram photos from other people, and Spotify playlists I've created. I never put my real name on any social media accounts, and even though these can be found through searching the screen name, they are all on private. I'm glad to know that my Facebook comments show up in the Google search engine because now I can disable that feature.
Illinois Public Salaries Data Base
The one piece of information I did find when Googling my name was a very outdated salary at my old teaching job. It was interesting to see all my old coworkers' salaries compared to mine, although I'm sure those are not updated either. I no longer work at a public school, so no new information will show up about me on this website for now.
image source: Illinois Public Salaries Database
Zaba Search
I entered my name and place of resident on Zaba Search. The website listed my correct age and an address I haven't lived at for 6 years. This website also asked me to pay for access to its findings, which I did not do. Therefore, I did not find much information about myself on here.
Instant Check Mate
I had the same results with Instant Check Mate as the other background check websites. I found the names of my family members, my age, and an outdated address.
I could not find any posts I've made by searching through Facebook. The only time I showed up is when I googled my username and I commented on public posts.
Conclusions
Overall, I wasn't really concerned or surprised by what I found. Most of the information I found was wrong or so outdated that it was no longer relevant. It was strange to see family members' names and tags in posts I thought were private (Instagram, Spotify, and Facebook), but I'm glad I know about them now. I am a private person online and do not have any public social media or social media with my actual name. I think this is why most of the information about me is wrong. I also feel like a lot of these websites (Zaba Search and Truth Finder) go for "shock value" to coerce users into paying money for information about themselves.
I think this was a great exercise and that students would also benefit from completing this activity. It is important to know what is out there and remove any unwanted information if possible. Knowing my name, address, and family members' names are listed does make me a little paranoid about things like identify theft, etc. This will also make me think twice about strong passwords that cannot be guessed based on the information that is out there about my identity.
Although there is some information about me online, I think it would be in my best interest to create more of a professional web presence. Although I now have a PLN on Twitter and a professional blog, none of these came up when searching myself online. One of the issues is that my name is so common, whenever I search it up there are a ton of accounts that appear. I want to look into how to make my professional accounts more noticeable when someone is trying to find them.
Excellent point about avoiding using passwords with any of the information you can find publicly! I'm glad the exercised prompted you to update some social media settings. This isn't something we often make time to do.
ReplyDeleteHey Kate -- The first time I completed this activity in the spring, I spent some time updating my privacy settings not just for social media, but even for sites like Amazon and Etsy. I also switched from Google to Duck Duck Go as my search engine to further ensure my privacy. It's such an important thing to do regularly. I also had my senior students complete this activity after the AP exams last May and they were really into it -- I think it made them feel like mini celebrities! It's so important to get not only ourselves to think critically about what we share, but also our young scholars.
ReplyDeleteHi Kate, it seems like you found a lot of information about yourself on a variety of websites! It is nice to hear that the information you found was not surprising to you. I too found similar information on myself that was not surprising, but like you said I would like to try to create that more professional web presence and limit other data that is not needed. Lastly, I do like that you made the connection of online data to strong passwords. I have to agree wholeheartedly that strong passwords are a must for helping protect one's own identity. Thanks for an awesome post on your data mine and your personal experience and thoughts through this.
ReplyDelete