Welcome to the Geeks on the Go blog. I hope you will find the subjects interesting.
For the next 10 weeks I am going to blog about privacy. This information is adapted from http://teachingprivacy.org/ and a presentation by L4bF0x (you can follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/l4bf0x ). I will be covering one principle a week. This week’s topic is about your electronic “footprint.”
Your footprint is larger than you think. Every time you click on a link to a web page information about you is recorded. Your IP address is sent whenever you visit a web page. Servers log all sorts of data such as the page you came from before you clicked the link and the browser you are using.
On your mobile device you are sharing all sorts of information through the apps installed on your phone. All those permissions you grant your apps share data with the publisher: For instance the Facebook app has access to your calendar, camera, contacts, location, microphone, phone, SMS, and storage. Your phone always gives location data on you.
Your digital footprint isn’t created just by you. Information appears in what others post about you. That photo you are tagged in and the tweets you are mentioned in all add to your digital presence.
When you are not on the Internet your digital footprint can still expand. For example, when you make a credit card purchase in a store or use your cell phone.
Along with what you post, tweet, and pin (as well as what other people post, tweet, and pin about you) there is metadata. Metadata are things like checking in on Facebook or the location added to a tweet. In addition images have metadata. This includes where the picture was taken, what kind of phone or camera, and the settings used to take the picture.
All this information about you is out there. Start managing it. Some you can’t control, but control what you can. Check your privacy settings on your accounts such as Facebook. Change the settings on your camera to not save metadata. Check with your banks, credit cards, etc and see what their privacy policies are and “opt out” of sharing if you can. Finally, delete accounts on sites you no longer use.
Please leave any questions or comments below.