# Privacy Footprint

Every click and every page you visit on the web can simultaneously be giving companies revenue and information about you! As we have discussed in class, computer hackers can remain relatively anonymous if they use good operational security (OPSEC) for example one thing they can do is use a VPN or use another computer to conduct criminal activity. Adding more methods of protection and confusion can make it harder if not impossible to find who they are and prosecute them. This stands true for protecting your privacy online and maintaining a small digital footprint.

Advertisements play a big role in violating the privacy of users of the internet. Brian Kernighan breaks down the online advertising process, “At the most basic level, advertisers pay to display an advertisement on a web page, with the price determined by some measure of how many people, and what kind of people, view the page… Viewers who might be interested in whatever is being advertised are clearly valuable, so in the most common model, the search engine company runs a real-time auction for search terms. Advertisers bid for the right to display advertisements along with the results for specific search terms, and the company makes money when a viewer clicks on an advertisement.” This process shows that companies are using data collected about you to have an auction to choose which ad will be displayed. I view this as dangerous because when you are browsing the web everything you are doing can be tracked and used by others to target interests and can possibly be used to sway your opinions and to give more about yourself away all while trying to get you to buy products or services.

Another reason why I believe online privacy today is being violated and reducing your individual footprint is so important is because as Kernighan mentions, “In the US, it's illegal to ask a job applicant about age, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, and a variety of other personal information, but those can be readily, and quietly, determined by searching social networks. Almost by definition, social networking sites are going to have privacy problems because they collect a great deal of information about their users and they make their money by selling it to advertisers.” Your employer can work around the law by finding information about you that they would not otherwise be able to obtain. This is alarming because they can then use this information in their decision to hire you or not.

Ultimately, privacy online and how big you keep your digital footprint is completely free for you to decide. Someone who is an influencer, content creator, or is in the media a lot may prefer to have a bigger digital footprint whereas an ordinary person may like to keep their life private. Wherever you stand it's important to know how to minimize your digital footprint especially since most people are not influencers, content creators, or famous. Your information can be used against you and as discussed earlier is important to protect your privacy some ways to do it include using social media to a lesser extent, private social media/ networking profiles, and adblockers to mitigate your digital footprint.

Overall; I don’t use a lot of social media in comparison to my peers. I don’t have TikTok downloaded, I have a Facebook account but I don’t use it, and Instagram and YouTube I only use them to watch funny videos and to learn about topics I am interested in.

I was not surprised to see what came up when I searched for my name on Google. There was a website that I created in high school and multiple websites that wrote about me and contained images of me. I am a pediatric cancer survivor and I have done multiple motivational speeches about my cancer experience to various organizations to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer. Because of my experience and speeches, these organizations have written about me and included information about me. This part of my identity definitely is the biggest part of me online and without it, I believe I would have little to no digital footprint.



When I searched for my name on TruePeopleSearch I did not come across myself; however, I searched for my father Frederick Edward Hedberg and saw that the website had his accurate age, and knew information about people related to my father like my mother and sister. This information was alarming to see and shows that our digital footprints can give away a lot of information not only about ourselves but also people that we know.