---
# System prepended metadata

title: Privacy Footprint
tags: [CDA]

---

###### tags: `CDA`
# Privacy Footprint

### [TruePeopleSearch](https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/details?name=Michael%20Curtis&citystatezip=River%20Ridge%2C%20LA&rid=0x0)
TruePeopleSearch had all of my information correct! :o
![](https://i.imgur.com/pWwXDON.png)
### [WebKay](https://webkay.robinlinus.com/)

[WebKay](https://webkay.robinlinus.com/) knows my BATTERY LEVEL and if my computer is charging or not!
#### WOW!
![](https://i.imgur.com/JYmeBvy.png)

### [MyAdCenter](https://myadcenter.google.com/)

My recent ads on [MyAdCenter](https://myadcenter.google.com/)
![](https://i.imgur.com/ebL5l1f.png)
For as much as Google knows me, I am surprised that I got an ad for women's clothing. 

I also created an export with all the data that Google tracks me on to make an analytic dashboard for a project in another class!

### Reading Engagement
Are you worried about the government tracking every purchase made, call to a friend, or places driven? I wouldn't be too worried about the government having this information, but rather companies that invented ways to collect this information. We know that Google is the world's leading search engine, but how does a search engine boast this much power? Well, it all comes down to a user's interaction with this search engine. Kernighan (2017, p.183) emphasizes that, "Search engines record what you searched for and when, where you were, and what results you clicked on, and if possible they associate it with you specifically." He further details the technicality of collected this data such has how search queries work and interact with algorithms to produce high-quality content. 

But even though the technology behind these search engines is quite advanced, the ability for third-party advertisements to utilize this technology is not. Kernighan (2017, p.185) continues to explain that "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." From there, engagement with these ads are tracked by both the search engine and third-party poster.

Taking it a step further, social networking companies, like Meta, hold extreme amounts of data on users. Because these social networks tend to be more private for certain users, information collected by Meta can be as specific as the location of a user. Personally, I think it is fair to be able to collect data like this because it creates a personalize user experience, but what I do not think is fair is if companies decide to use this data to do more than what they are saying they do. With sensitive and confidential information, there needs to be full transparency, especially if it becomes a threat to people's lives. 