Digital footprint and Data custody – It’s like love and marriage .. they go together like a horse and a carriage

Are you a regular internet user? Do you know that everything you do online leaves a trail? Well, if you do not, prepare to have your socks knocked off your feet. Every time you post on social media, send emails or browse products on Amazon, you add another piece of information to your ever-growing string of breadcrumbs on the Web. Collectively, this data can say everything about you – it is your digital footprint.

In addition to basic information like your name, address and phone number, data about your family and friends, preferred restaurant and vacation spots, shopping trends, and past professional and personal experiences are all available online in one form or the other. The more you use the internet, the larger your digital footprint.

Digital footprints are an invaluable asset for companies today. Marketers can target content at specific consumers, advertisers can track your movement across multiple websites, and an employer can look into your online life to determine whether you are a good fit for a job.

Why does your life on the web matter?

In an age where more and more is happening online than offline, it pays to be mindful of your digital footprint. Make no mistake – the Web starts listening from the moment you launch your browser. You must understand what you are leaving behind as you interact with websites and other online users. Why? Because every piece of your digital footprint is potentially permanent and openly available for all.

The phrase “once you put it out there, it’s out there forever” is common in the online world. Everything you post online has the potential to become a permanent piece of your digital footprint because shared information is usually replicated multiple times across different other outlets, including search engines and indexing platforms. It is no surprise that tech companies typically find it easier to store user data long term than delete it.

Just as data that is on the internet will most likely always be on the internet, anyone with the right tools, be they businesses, potential employers, or even hackers, can access your digital footprint. More often than not, this data is hidden in plain sight and can be pulled easily through your search history or your internet service provider. You

r digital footprint can impact your future significantly. Imagine you are out job hunting, and you apply for a position that eerily calls for you. What happens if the hiring company digs up some embarrassing pictures from your past?

Understanding your digital footprint may prevent you from sharing content irresponsibly. The next time you send a scathing email, keep in mind that the message you are conveying will likely remain on the internet forever. Being aware of your digital footprint may also cause you to be more discerning when publishing content on social media. While you can always delete what you have shared, you have no guarantee that the content you remove will be eliminated from the internet.

You may find it shocking, but your digital footprint is wildly out of your control

If you think you have your digital footprint all under control, you are dreadfully wrong. Your online portrait does not just include what you see or post online, but also what others say about you. As the Tech Terms Computer Dictionary describes, a digital footprint can be active or passive. Your active footprint is what you create when you intentionally share information about yourself on a website online, while your passive print comprises data that can be gathered without your knowledge. Passive sources can range from websites retrieving your location through your IP address to social media users mentioning your name in their posts.

It is practically impossible to manage all aspects of your profile on the internet. Everything that exists about you online has the potential to remain available forever, and you can barely do anything significant to prevent this eventuality. While the internet runs entirely on data gathered from users like yourself, you do not have custody of the information you share.

Who owns the data on the internet? It’s not the users

The internet exists because of data that users generate when they interact with online platforms. Ask the owners of these websites about data custody, and most of them will blatantly claim that the personal information a user shares belongs entirely to them. In truth, however, users have little or no ownership of the digital data they create.

The problem rests on the centralized architecture of today’s internet. If you are an active Facebook user, for instance, you have to trust that this giant corporation that pools terabytes of information every day from users all over the world, has your best interests at heart. Unfortunately, companies that run online user-driven platforms store all the data on physical servers that are inaccessible to the public. When you create an account on Facebook, you are essentially granting the company full controlling custody of your data.

So, say you decide to take down a post from your Facebook account. Simply clicking the “delete” button does not necessarily mean it has been tossed into oblivion. On the contrary, pieces of the content could lurk on online servers forever. In 2012, Ars Technica editor Jacqui Cheng discovered that the photos she deleted from Facebook three years ago were still accessible by anyone with a direct link to the pictures. As the social media giant later explained, deleting something you shared on Facebook removes it from the site but not necessarily from the company’s servers.

By having custody of your data, the companies behind the websites and online applications you use own it, and by extension, your digital footprint.

Worry no longer friend, the internet is set to change for the better

Having information about yourself that you cannot alter or remove from online platforms is undoubtedly concerning, but thankfully, a new age is on the horizon. Dubbed Web 3.0, the next version of the internet promises to give you full custody of your internet data. By incorporating the groundbreaking blockchain technology, Web 3.0 will effectively hand you the capability to define your digital footprint as you see fit.