Your digital footprint is always growing - so how can you keep it under control?
Have you ever been caught out by your boss seeing your Instagram photos from a night out after you pulled a sickie the next day? Or by ill-considered videos you posted online coming back to haunt you in later life? If so, then you can blame your digital footprint.
An unfortunate side-effect of our modern, hyper-connected world is that we're constantly leaving a trail of information about our lives, hobbies and activities behind us. Your 'digital footprint' is made up of all this data, and it can reveal a scary amount about you.
Your digital footprint isn't just made up of the things you post online though - it also consists of publicly-available data from official records, as well as data gathered by tech companies and ISPs about your online activity.
This information is used by companies to build profiles of you, which they then use for things like targeted advertising. However, if it falls into the wrong hands, this data could potentially reveal details of your personal life to criminals, who could then use it to rob or blackmail you.
There are various ways to try and minimise the risk of this, but before you try and shrink the size of your digital footprint, you have to understand exactly what goes into it. There are two kinds of digital footprint: 'passive' and 'active'.
Passive digital footprint
The former is made up of the information that tech companies harvest behind the scenes, such as browsing data, IP addresses and purchasing habits. This is often collected without us even knowing about it, and is used to target advertisements, build customer profiles and more. There are a number of ways to minimise how large this type of footprint grows, such as using proxies and VPNs, or using anonymising technologies such as Tor.
Thankfully, this data isn't usually publicly searchable, so it doesn't present much of an issue in day-to-day life - unless you're especially concerned with private companies like Google and Facebook tracking your internet activity.
Active digital footprint
The other kind of footprint is an 'active' digital footprint, which is the publicly-traceable information that you share on the web, including Facebook updates, messageboard posts and Twitter rants. We rarely think about this type of digital footprint, but it can become a major headache in some circumstances.
The most obvious example is in employment; when hiring a new member of staff, the vast majority of companies now look up potential candidates' social media profiles. You may have a bulletproof CV, but if your Twitter feed is a stream of complaints and insults directed at your former employer, that's likely to be a one-way ticket to the rejection pile.
Similarly, many people have been undone when ill-advised social media comments came back to haunt them later. The UK's first youth police and crime commissioner, for example, lost her job in 2013 after prior tweets emerged that many people said were racist and homophobic. The government's Data Protection Bill seeks to allow people to ask social media firms to remove posts they made in childhood, which should go some way to getting rid of embarrassing views people no longer hold.
Social media's security issue
Your social media posts can also present security risks. By stitching together all the information distributed across your various social networks, criminals - both cyber and garden-variety - can often stitch together a shockingly comprehensive view of your life. This can lead to burglaries, fraud and even identity theft.
So how can you ensure that your digital footprint doesn't become a digital boot in the nethers? Well, the simplest solution is to make sure not to post anything potentially embarrassing or harmful online - a good rule of thumb is to never post anything that you wouldn't be comfortable with showing your boss.
Of course, this is rarely possible - aside from the fact that this rule is heavily restrictive, there will always be incidents outside your control - when someone posts a questionable photo of you on their social media account, for example. The good news is that most social networks have adjustable privacy settings, allowing you to limit who can see your profile and posts, and change whether or not new friends and followers are accepted automatically.
If you're especially paranoid about your online activities being linked to you, one option is to use anonymous social media accounts. These can either use entirely falsified information, or personal details not associated with your professional life, such as a middle or maiden name. This will make it harder for people you don't personally know to track you down.
The final and most extreme option for managing your digital footprint is the EU's 'right to be forgotten' law. This legislation allows people to request that search results which are "inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant" be removed from search engines like Google. There has to be a valid reason for the request, however, so this tactic does not apply in the majority of cases.
The best guidance is to be sensible. A few pictures of you on a night out are unlikely to get you fired, but posting a lengthy rant about your boss might. Voice your opinions on Twitter if you like, but try and refrain from spewing hateful, abusive screeds. Exercise good judgement and common sense, and your digital footprint will likely be fine.
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