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###### tags: `CDA`
# Privacy Footprint
## The Google Search Dilemma
Tyler Meadows: the first year Northeastern student or the MMA fighter? This was the first issue I stumbled upon when trying to simply search “Tyler Meadows” within Google. Apparently there is an MMA fighter with the same name as I, and much more fame. Amongst the list of other Tylers Meadowses there are sex offenders, some exceptional track & field highschooler, and a bunch of other random people.
None of which were me. This provided me with some degree of assurance, then I tried a new method. What would happen if I attached “sailing” to the end of my name? A simple keyword that ended up unlocking the whole puzzle. Doing so will then lead you immediately to sailing [articles](https://www.27east.com/mobile/article.cfm/General-Interest-Southampton/563346/Southampton-PGJSA-Youth-Regatta-Small-Regatta-With-Some-Big-Competition) that I appear in, the website of my [summer workplace](http://www.southamptonyachtclub.org/jr-sailing.html), all my [regatta registrations and results](https://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_registrant_list.php?regatta_id=19121&custom_report_id=2&SORTBY=HANDICAP,ORC_PLD), and even pictures of me that I didn’t even remember. Like this one…
![](https://i.imgur.com/NX0EUyG.jpg)
My point being here that individual pieces of personal data are pretty harmless. What's dangerous is when someone combines data, then they can spark a chain reaction of data flow. Of course through this exercise of doxing myself I knew what information would coencide nicely, but a lot of it probably isn’t that hard to figure out, especially if someone is purposely trying to investigate me and me alone.
## Intelius
Of course however services such as [Intelius](https://www.intelius.com/) make this a whole lot easier, or worrisome… depends on your motives here. I did have a profile on Intelius but it only knew my age, likely from public records. My parents however were a different story. Here are the results for my mother.
![](https://i.imgur.com/MOQlr5a.png)
Some of the information is censored, but nevertheless there was a surprising amount of it. What was really scary was the paid premium version which apparently had even more in depth data. It is clear to see how easy it is for people to figure you out. All they have to do is latch onto the data trail and the rest simply follows. As Brian W. Kernighan puts it, “It’s inevitable that information about us is collected as we use the Internet; it’s hard to do anything without leaving tracks” (Kernighan, 2017).
## Google Services
Finally we arrive at the Google services that deal with privacy. The most surprising was the [google maps timeline](https://www.google.com/maps/timeline?pb) which apparently stores all your known locations from any point in the past, just a click or two away. Luckily the site didn’t seem to have information on me, but that's not certain. Location related data does creep me out a little, and I usually disallow location services whenever I can, same goes for camera and microphone accessibility.
What doesn’t creep me out through is the Google [activity service](https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity?hl=en) and [ad personalization](https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated?hl=en). I personally find both services very helpful. For instance I recently used the Google activity to find a pair of shoes I had looked at a month ago. Unless your doing weird stuff on the internet you really have no reason to fear this tool. We also have the infamous ad personalization which collects your precious cookies and all that. I usually use an adblocker, but where it slips through I’d rather see something I might be interested in than not. Honestly if your a responsible person on the web and don’t have anything to hide these tools are harmless, or rather helpful.