# Privacy Footprint

For all we joke about an FBI agent watching us through our camera, our actions on the Internet are monitored closely and aggressively without the camera ever having to be activated. In "D is for Digital," Kernighan looks at the way this data is gathered and stored, focusing on web searches, tracking, social networks, data mining, and cloud computing. Kernighan emphasizes the inescapable nature of leaving tracks, which left me wondering what data exists on me.

Now, to Internet stalk myself. Starting with a simple Google search of [my legal name](https://www.google.com/search?q=adeline+muller&oq=Adeline+Muller&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0i10i512j0i22i30l3j69i61l3.3510j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8), nothing related to me comes up immediately.


I think this is an effect of using a nickname on social media, as a Google search of "[Addie Muller](https://www.google.com/search?q=addie+muller&oq=addie+muller&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j0i10i512j0i390l2j69i60j69i61j69i60.2538j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)" yields different and more revealing results.


Still, nothing I found is all that incriminating. My high school comes up on the first page of results, but my Instagram doesn't appear even though my username is just my name. Even when searching "[Addie Muller Instagram](https://www.google.com/search?q=addie+muller+instagram&oq=addie+&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j69i57j46i433i512j0i20i263i433i512j69i60j69i61l2.1017j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)" I don't come up, which I find odd. After clicking through the pages of results, I found a publication of a letter to the editor that I wrote to the New York Times in high school and I found my reviews on gluten-free restaurants through Find Me Gluten Free.

Next, [Spokeo](https://www.spokeo.com/), a "people search" site looking to sell data, also doesn't have my name in their database. However, my mom and dad show up, with a shocking amount of accurate data.


I'm assuming this data comes from court documents and public records, a form of data mining that Kernighan addressed. I don't love knowing that this service exists, but considering I'm not directly listed on it yet and that this similar service used to be available at government buildings, I'm less concerned. This does seem like a threat to stalking though! I feel this might be the kind of web search seized for legal reasons and would be hesitant to pay for information on anyone else.

Kernighan also shared what data is most easily tracked, such as the IP address, type and version of the browser, operating system, language preference, and cookies. "[What every Browser knows about you](https://webkay.robinlinus.com/)" confirmed that my Browser is tracking just that.


I'm curious about what malicious uses this could have. Again, very unsettling that this information is being recorded, but what advantage does this give advertisers, hackers, or law enforcement?

It seems I'm best at privacy when it comes to Google.


While my searches are tracked, my location history is off and the option for personalized ads is disabled. I don't remember consciously doing either of these things, but I think I'll keep it this way. I also wonder what these settings look like on my phone, as that probably has more extensive data on my geolocation and comes with me everywhere. I'd view that as a greater threat to privacy.

Finally, social media. I'm on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and BeReal, and have private accounts on all of these, meaning I have to approve friend requests and have some control over which strangers view my profile. However, that's about as far as any of my privacy settings go. I allow just about everything else that these sites ask for, which does concern me a bit.


I don't ever read the Terms and Conditions and don't know what data these sites have on me or how they intend to use it. However, private account or not, I never assume that anything I do online is entirely secure. I'm conscious of my digital footprint, and avoid liking, commenting, following, or posting anything I would be embarrassed for future employers to see.

As a newbie to cyber-stalking, I'm sure there are avenues to finding my footprint that I entirely missed. For example, looking at the tags, comments, and follows of my friends on these social media sites would give someone more information on me, information that I have little control over. Here is a TikTok video of a cyber-stalking pro finding the birth date of a random commenter (with consent).

<iframe width="327" height="581"![Uploading file..._u7gmyyky4]()
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ATF2Komy3KM" title="Privacy in Digital Comms" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The websites that profit off of finding this information, the advertisers that rely on it for sales, and those with malicious intent can do so much more damage than I would know how to, which is a really concerning thought. As [Haridy](https://newatlas.com/computers/facebook-not-secretly-listening-conversations/) concluded after reviewing experiments, even if Facebook isn't using the microphone to listen in on users, there are more disturbing explanations for the tracking at play. It appears that Big Brother is watching you.