Digital Tattoos?
You are probably thinking of tattoos people get on their skin. A digital tattoo has the same context of a regular tattoo. It is like a tattoo but on the internet. Digital tattoos are digital records of one's actions and communications-and they are permanent; also known as digital footprints. Data online that is used for communication or any other online actions can be traced to an individual. It is nearly impossible to control data that is online about yourself once it is made public.
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My Digital Tattoo
I decided to take a look into my digital tattoo. I used several sites to see what information I can gather about myself and what information of mine is out there for the world to see. I used a private mode window to be able to get accurate results for my research. You can see what information I have found about myself on each site below:
Nuwber
The first website I used was Nuwber. On Nuwber, I was able to find previous and current cities and zip codes of where I live/ed. It also included the city Palos Hills which is where I currently work. Madison, WI was a city on this report which I found interesting because I have never been to Madison, WI. It makes me wonder what was this location based off of. I was also able to find my age and a few relatives of mine as well.
Google
The second site I used to data mine myself was Google. On Google I found lots of information about myself as well as photos. The first result was my Facebook account. I do have my Facebook account on private but my profile page is still public. My profile photo, where I went for college, and where I graduated high school was all on my Facebook page. I was not shocked by these results because I am the one who put that information on Facebook. The second result was the website of the school I work at. You will be able to find my work photo, work email, and my position at the school. Twitter was another search result on Google. I have two twitter accounts, one is private and a personal account and the other is a public "teacher" account. The only account that was visible was my public account. You are able to see any of my tweets, photos, or even tags in posts. Instagram was a result where only my profile picture, number of posts, and bio was available because I do have my Instagram account on private. You can also see how many accounts I am following as well as how many accounts are following me. Other miscellaneous things that were found on Google was my wedding registry, university Dean's lists I was on, and photos my previous professor posted of myself and classmates.
Image Source: Author of BlogImage Source: Author of Blog
Image Source: Author of Blog
YouTube
On YouTube, the only search about myself I was able to find was a video I posted during my undergrad courses. It is an author study video I created for a project. You are also able to see my YouTube account, however I do not have anything else posted.
Classmates
On classmates.com, I was able to find information about myself where I graduated high school, yearbook photos, as well as graduates from my class of 2016. This site was pretty interesting to browse. I had no idea there was a way to find all yearbooks from the high school I went to.
Fast People Search
On this website, all I had to do was type in my name and all my current and past public info was available. I found information about myself that was both accurate and not accurate as well. For example, there is a phone number I do not recognize and the current phone number it is presenting is actually my brother's phone number, not mine. It does show my current and past address as well as other information about myself and my family.
Zabasearch
I used a site called Zabasearch, I found the same information I found on Truthfinder. There was my age, name, address, and any people related to me.
Spokeo
The last site I used is called Spokeo. On this site, I did not find much however, if paid for I believe I would have found much more information about myself and any other records I am not aware of.
Reflection
Overall, during this mine search I would not say I was surprised about anything I found about myself on the web. I am typically always careful and cautious about what I do post and what accounts I have on private and public. I would also say that not everything you find on social media about someone is true. I did find information that was not true about myself, however there was also lots of accurate information for public records. Regarding students, it is important to teach them digital safety as well as what information is appropriate to share and what is not, especially photos. Once something is on the web no matter how long ago it was, it will always be on there.
Thanks for sharing your results. I'm glad you weren't concerned about what you found.
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