Digital Footprint

Digital Footprint

1. Lesson 8: Why dynamics are at work with digital footprints?

   • Dynamic of Convenience- If we cannot see the immediate harm from our actions, we assume they are not harming us. This lulls us into privacy-eroding habits.
   • Economic Dynamic- This gives a service provider a strong incentive to collect data, and keep users under-formed about that aspect of the service.
   • Cultural Dynamic- What is acceptable and common in one group is sometimes unacceptable and unusual to another

2. Lesson 2: Why did we start leaving such big footprints?

   • Visiting different service providers generate data about you that businesses/organizations use for their benefit.
   • Visiting websites can reveal to the website owner your IP address, info about your computer, and more.
   • A cookie is a way of tying multiple actions by a single user into one connected stream.

3. Lesson 3: What is the economic bargain for Internet users?

   • Publishers and marketers exploit digital footprints to target their products at the most appropriate audience.
   • Even if we don't think so, we are sometimes playing indirectly when going onto certain websites.
   • Advertisers and publishers find out as much as they can about their audience.

4. Lesson 4: Are digital footprints a problem?

   • Digital footprints take away our privacy and we are no longer anonymous.
   • Digital footprints build up over time and end up becoming humongous.
   • There is no universal agreement on how privacy works on the internet.

5. Lesson 6: How can I manage my digital footprint?

   • Lat two steps are become are sophisticated user of your online tools are services and find and use specific privacy-enhancing tools.
   • Managing your digital footprint takes thought, time, and effort.
   • The first two steps are improving your understanding of the basic issues and develop your "basic hygiene" habits.

6. Lesson 7: Who is tracking me and how do they do it?

   • Mostly, digital footprints are used in a commercial context by companies who want to market products and services.
   • When you browse a website, the website places a tracking cookie on your web browser.
   • The main kinds of entities that use that work together to track users and create profiles are Advertisers, Publishers, and Aggregators.

7. Lesson 9: How does legislation affect our digital footprint?

   • Most privacy guidelines focus on "personal data" or "personal information".
   • Some counties have laws that are designed to protect pre-designed classes of data.
   • The Internet ecosystem is complex and regulating it is a challenge.

8. Lesson 1: What is a digital footprint?

   • Digital footprints are the records and traces we leave behind as we use the internet.
   • Putting things online takes instantly takes away your privacy.
   • Used by organizations mostly.

9. Lesson 5: Do different devices make different digital footprints?

   • Smartphones and tablets leave different footprints than computers.
   • Services and vendors can also access private information on your phone.
   • Services can easily track your location when using a smartphone.