Privacy Footprint

Identity

In an initial private browser search of my name, the only link that is solely about me, besides my picture appearing 3rd under images is the "elite prospects" website which apparently lists me as a prospect even though I last played hockey in highschool in 2016. I'm actually more surprised by this search in that it reveals so little about myself as all of the other Jake McConnells dilute my searchability on the web.

Intelius is pretty accurate. It's kind of scary how they know the first 6 numbers of my phone number and my immediate relatives.
I also find that its quite interesting that my browser keeps tabs on which social media sites I'm actively logged into.

My google accounts don't have access to the Google Maps timeline. 
I additionally have accounts on both Ancestry and 23andme that allow others to see how related they are to me. I've limited my privacy by preventing content and limiting details that my non-connections can see but having DNA results online poses a huge risk if others are able to take that data and use it maliciously. 
I am not as secure as I could be on the internet, but I do frequently use a password manager and am constantly aware of things like credit reporting and dark web reporting. From this assignment, I realized that things can be really difficult if you are a person of interest but if you're relatively unknown with a common name it makes it much harder for internet stalkers/hackers to target you as a person of interest and find information solely relevant to you. I used to be interested in family trees, specifically through Ancestry.com and doing some of the digging for this project inspired me to look back at the connections I've made in Ancestry and it's really amazing to me how much data is available online. Today everything is available online but you can still find census information, in the public records for people who died over 200 years ago.

Kernighan, in D is for Digital, explores the plethora of drawbacks that the digital age has had on one's personal privacy as he identifies how these digital technologies subvert one's privacy. Kernighan however explores the nuance between the digital world and privacy as he notes that we are ultimately better off in our digital world, but we must be aware of the potential serious risks of what we disclose online. If someone wanted information on a specific person, they used to have to call in or physically drive down to the country office to search through physical records to find potential criminal history, addresses and other censure information. Today, a background check could be completed online in minutes, scrubbing most of the search engines and internet to expose everything that an individual has done. Many online background checks make you check boxes to ensure that you won't use the data maliciously but I'm sure people have. People having easy access to others data can definitely be bad, but much of one's daily privacy breaches are from completely automated systems, big data algorithms, that are able to essentialize a user's preferences to create prediction models that are scarily accurate. These algorithms can be used to annoyingly sell more targeted ads to more insidious aspects like automated phishing scams because a digital system has determined that a specific user would be gullible enough to click on the links. True digital privacy is quixotic with how much information big companies like Google can derive from a user, but regardless it is important for a user to be mindful of the data they're sharing online to prevent them from becoming a target for malicious breaches of privacy.