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Digital footprint

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Digital footprint or digital shadow refers to one's unique set of traceable digital activities, actions, contributions and communications that are manifested on the Internet or on digital devices.[1][2][3][4]

There are two main classifications for digital footprints: passive and active. A passive digital footprint is created when data is collected without the owner knowing (also known as data exhaust),[5] whereas active digital footprints are created when personal data is released deliberately by a user for the purpose of sharing information about oneself by means of websites or social media.[6]

On the World Wide Web, the internet footprint;[7] also known as cyber shadow, electronic footprint, or digital shadow, is the information left behind as a result of a user's web-browsing and stored as cookies. The term usually applies to an individual person, but can also refer to a business, organization and corporation.[8]

Tony Fish expounded upon the possible dangers of digital footprints in a 2007 self-published book.[9] The closed loop takes data from the open loop and provides this as a new data input. This new data determines what the user has reacted to, or how they have been influenced. The feedback then builds a digital footprint based on social data, and the controller of the social digital footprint data can determine how and why people purchase and behave.

Katalin Fehér emphasized in her academic research paper about personal online strategies in 2017[10] that users leave digital footprints behind via online systems and new media. Human interactions and digitalized automatization imply decisions and dilemmas on account of online participation. The consequences are unpredictable: both former and updated records are available in an infinite digital present.

Web browser

Information may be intentionally or unintentionally left behind by the user; with it being either passively or actively collected by other interested parties. Depending on the amount of information left behind, it may be simple for other parties to gather large amounts of information on that individual using simple search engines. Internet footprints are used by interested parties for several reasons; including cyber-vetting,[11] where interviewers could research applicants based on their online activities. Internet footprints are also used by law enforcement agencies, to provide information that would be unavailable otherwise due to a lack of probable cause.[12] In addition your digital footprint is being used by marketers in order to find what products a user may be interested in, or to inspire ones' interest in a certain product based on similar interests.[13]

Social networking systems may record activities of individuals, with data becoming a life stream. Such usage of social media and roaming services allow digital tracing data to include individual interests, social groups, behaviors, and location. Such data can be gathered from sensors within devices, and collected and analyzed without user awareness.[citation needed] Facebook is one of many social media sites that does collect an extensive amount of information that can be used to piece together a user's personality. Things such as the number of friends a user has can predict whether or not the user has an introvert or extrovert personality.

Privacy issues

Digital footprints are not a digital identity or passport, but the content and meta data collected impacts upon internet privacy, trust, security, digital reputation, and recommendation. As the digital world expands and integrates with more aspects of life, ownership and rights of data becomes important. Digital footprints are controversial in that privacy and openness are in competition.[14] Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems, said in 1999 Get Over It when referring to privacy on the Internet.[15] This later became a commonly used quote in relationship to private data and what companies do with it.[citation needed]

Having a digital footprint may be dangerous for students, as affiliations such as college admissions staff and potential employers may decide to research into prospective students and employee's online profiles, leading to a large impact on the students' futures.[16]

While digital footprint can be used to infer personal information, such as demographic traits, sexual orientation, race, religious and political views, personality, or intelligence[17] without individuals' knowledge, it also exposes individuals private psychological sphere into the social sphere.[18] Lifelogging is an example of indiscriminate collection of information concerning an individuals life and behaviour.[19] There are ways to make your digital footprint difficult to track.[20] Illustrating examples of the usage or interpretation of data trails can be found at the example of Facebook-influenced creditworthiness ratings,[21] the judicial investigations around German social scientist Andrej Holm,[22] advertisement-junk mails by the American company OfficeMax[23] or the border incident of Canadian citizen Ellen Richardson.[24]

This image shows that one's digital footprint is found online through the internet. This makes up who a person is through media in the virtual world.

Doctors are highly searched on the internet which makes upholding and maintaining a digital footprint critical. A digital footprint is ones identity online which is based upon a person's personality or one's career path, but it is also based upon someone's activity through the internet. Most people nowadays, go online to search for doctors and read reviews, which is why a digital footprint for doctors is very important. This contains a lot of information on how to uphold and maintain a good digital footprint.[25] While going through research of different facilities using one’s digital footprint, the top 10 ranked Urology residency program websites appeared and this provides factual data based on one's digital identity, which can either benefit or harm a business or company.[26] Digital identities are used for more than just searching doctors and other professions, it is also used for the entertainment people have with the internet and social interaction, which more people these days can relate to. A digital footprint is also made up upon someone's interaction on social media, such as the posts or comments they share on different social media sites. This provides us with factual data which makes interaction safer online, by knowing who one truly is through a digital footprint.[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dictionary.com: digital footprint". Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  2. ^ "What is Digital Footprint? Webopedia Definition". www.webopedia.com. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  3. ^ "Digital Footprint Definition". techterms.com. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  4. ^ "What is digital footprint? - Definition from WhatIs.com". WhatIs.com. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  5. ^ Girardin, Fabien; Calabrese, Francesco; Fiore, Filippo Dal; Ratti, Carlo; Blat, Josep (2008). "Digital Footprinting: Uncovering Tourists with User-Generated Content". IEEE Pervasive Computing. 7 (4): 36–43. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.208.3177. doi:10.1109/MPRV.2008.71.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Madden, Fox, Smith & Vitak, Mary, Susannah, Aaron, Jessica (2007). "Digital Footprints". Pew Research Center. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Garfinkel, Simson; Cox, David. "Finding and Archiving the Internet Footprint" (PDF). Presented at the first Digital Lives Research Conference. London, England. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (|book-title= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ COLLINS, KATIE. "Monitoring digital footprints to prevent reputation damage and cyber attacks". Archived from the original on 12 August 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ My Digital Footprint: A two-sided digital business model where your privacy will be someone else's business! [Kindle Edition]
  10. ^ Katalin Fehér NetFrameWork and the digitalized-mediatized self, CJSSP
  11. ^ Dalgord, Chelsea (2012-12-07). "Cybervetting: The Hiring Process in the Digital Age".
  12. ^ Diab, Robert (2018). "Protecting the Right to Privacy in Digital Devices: Reasonable Search on Arrest and at the Border". University of New Brunswick Law Journal. 69: 96–125.
  13. ^ Wyner, Gordon. "Digital Footprints Abound". ama.org. American Marketing Association. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  14. ^ Gardham, Duncan (26 January 2009). "Threat to privacy under data law, campaigners warn". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  15. ^ Sprenger, Polly (26 January 1999). "Sun on Privacy: 'Get Over It'". Wired. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  16. ^ "10 Things Your Students Should Know About Their Digital Footprints". Retrieved 2016-10-04.
  17. ^ Kosinski, Michal; Stillwell, D.; Graepel, T. (2013). "Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior". PNAS USA. 110 (15): 5802–5805. doi:10.1073/pnas.1218772110. PMC 3625324. PMID 23479631.
  18. ^ Latour, Bruno (15 January 2015). "Beware, your imagination leaves digital traces" (PDF). Column for Times Higher Education Supplement.
  19. ^ O’Hara, Kieron; Tuffield, Mischa M.; Shadbolt, Nigel (2008). "Lifelogging: Privacy and empowerment with memories for life". Identity in the Information Society. 1 (1): 155–172. doi:10.1007/s12394-009-0008-4.
  20. ^ Singer, Natasha (19 June 2013). "Ways to Make Your Online Tracks Harder to Follow". The New York Times Company. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  21. ^ Lobosco, Katie (26 August 2013). "Facebook friends could change your credit score". The Guardian. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  22. ^ "Guantánamo in Germany". The Guardian. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  23. ^ Bellware, Kim. "Mike Seay Gets OfficeMax Junk Mail Referencing Daughter Killed In Car Crash". HuffPost. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  24. ^ "Border refusal for depressed paraplegic shows Canada-U.S. security co-operation has gone too far". The Star. Toronto. 29 November 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  25. ^ Kim, Christopher; Gupta, Raghav; Shah, Aakash; Madill, Evan; Prabhu, Arpan V.; Agarwal, Nitin (2018-05-01). "Digital Footprint of Neurological Surgeons". World Neurosurgery. 113: e172–e178. doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2018.01.210. ISSN 1878-8750. PMID 29427816.
  26. ^ Gill, Bradley C.; Ericson, Kyle J.; Hemal, Sij; Babbar, Paurush; A. Shoskes, Daniel (2016). "The Digital Footprint of Academic Urologists: Where Do we Stand?". Urology. 90: 27–31. doi:10.1016/j.urology.2015.12.013. ISSN 0090-4295. PMID 26802802.
  27. ^ Lambiotte, Renaud; Kosinski, Michal (2014). "Tracking the Digital Footprints of Personality". Proceedings of the IEEE. 102 (12): 1934–1939. doi:10.1109/jproc.2014.2359054. ISSN 0018-9219.

Further reading

Kieron O’Hara- Lifelogging: Privacy and empowerment with memories for life (Tuffield, Mischa M. and Shadbolt, Nigel (2009))

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