# <span style="color:#ad5cad; font-family: 'Georgia'; font-size: .9em;">Privacy Footprint</span>

## <span style="font-family: 'Georgia'; font-size: .8em;">Ad Blocking Assignment</span>

#### My Identity
Do a web search of sites, images, and videos associated with your name.
When I did a [TruePeopleSearch](https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/), I decided to do it slowly and in parts. In my first search, I only looked up my name (Rachel Silva) and although 249 searches came up, my specific information was not one of the first ones to pop up.
In my second search, I looked up my name with Massachusetts as the state. This time, 46 records were found.
In my last search, I also gave Everett as the city I grew up in, and with only these three pieces of information given, the website was able to single me out completely. This felt a little scary, especially as a woman who knows countless other women who have gone through things like stalking. It is nerve-wracking to know that anyone out there can find out all of my information with only my full name and where I grew up.
#### Browser
Looking at [webkay](https://webkay.robinlinus.com/) and what every browser knows about me was interesting, especially since I don't know many of the terms discussed like geotagging (which shows up when you try to insert a photo to see what its metadata is like) or click jacking. Geotagging is discussed in "Data and Information" on page 188:
> Some digital cameras include GPS as well, which lets them encode the geographic location in each picture they take; this is called geo-tagging. Newer cameras have Wi-Fi for uploading pictures; there's no reason it couldn't be used for tracking as well.
>
On social media, I am very cautious to never tag photos with locations, although I used to tag locations on Snapchat when I was much younger. Actually, Bereal has an option to show the user's location when they post their photo of the day, so any friend of the user would not only be able to see at what time the photo was posted, a visual of the location, but also the location. I can definitely see this being studied for danger in the future, if it already hasn't been.
I also tried to scan my network but nothing happened, so I hope this means I don't have any malicious devices attached to my networks. I think the most interesting one was the one about auto-filling phishing. I do a lot of shopping online and am also currently applying to co-ops. For the sake of efficiency, I use auto-filling mostly for filling in my address and filling in my credit card information. Obviously, I know the latter is probably dangerous, but haven't turned the feature off because it makes my life easier, but I didn't expect that auto-filling my name and address could be used to steal my identity. Features like these are pushed so greatly as a way to help the user navigate the web faster, which I have already said is the reason I started using it. Now that I'm seeing the emphasis on how much of my information is tracked, it is off-putting, especially when in the "My Identity" section, I saw that people really only need to know my full name and address to find out very personal information, which the auto-filling feature gives.
#### Google
Unlike my Twitter, which I discuss below, I was not very aware of the very specific privacy options on Google. Other than my location sharing being turned off, I hadn't turned off personalized ads. The personalized ads section in the Google privacy section is crazy because unlike Twitter, which just showed me my interests, Google goes very deep into what they perceive me as. Somehow, Google has gathered that I'm 18-24, female, single, and have a household income of average or lower class. Google being able to guess my gender and age isn't as uncomfortable as it being able to guess my education status, relationship status or household income. When I looked into how Google figures this stuff out, it gave the example of a parent looking up diapers, which reminded me of that reading on a teenage girl who got mailed ads for pregnant women despite not having told her parents about it. I google a lot of things about being in college, but I wonder how they calculated my relationship status (maybe my lack of searches of love or dates?) and my income.
#### Social Networks
For this, I decided to look at my Twitter settings since I am the most active on it out of any of my social media. Although I am not private, I don't post any of my personal information on it other than my name and age. Because my name and age are available on this site, I don't post any pictures of myself, so it's much harder to find me. In my settings, I have personalized ads turned off, as well as the ability to "personalize my Twitter experience based on my inferred identity" and to "personalize based on location" turned off. Despite turning off personalized ads, there is still an option for me to look through what Twitter perceives as my interests, and as can be seen by how small the scrollbar on the side is, the list is very, very long. The list isn't entirely correct as I am not interested in ATEEZ or Adult Swim, but many of the interests on the list are things I've discussed or interacted with in the past, which is very disconcerting.