As a member of Generation Z with Baby Boomer parents, I had close to unfiltered internet access growing up. At the time, none of us were entirely aware of how long-lasting the information you posted to the internet would be. I created profiles on many social media sites as a preteen where I would post my stream of conscious thoughts, attempt to gain the attention of celebrities, or just interact with other members of their fanbases. So, after seeing that our class assignment this week was to search through our individual data mines, I will admit that I was mostly concerned about unearthing some of these embarrassing old posts I made. But also as mentioned in a previous blog post, my aunt has had her identity stolen before, so I am intrigued to learn how much in-depth personal information about myself can be found online to prevent that from happening to me as well.
1. Google (Microsoft Edge)
The first site I used to research myself was Google, as I thought it would bring up the widest array of results. My assumption was correct because upon searching "Francesca Coppola" in Microsoft Edge, many of the results that came up were articles announcing the birth of Nicholas Cage's daughter: August Francesca Coppola Cage. All the images that came up under this search were also not of me, and the addition of both an "@" and "filetype:doc" with my name did not generate any more accurate results. However, I also did a search of my usual social media handles and found my profiles on the platforms where I had created them.
2. Intelius
Next, I used the website Intelius to further uncover my data mine. As it generated my report, it provided correct information about my life such as my parents' names, places I've lived, and the last 4 digits of my phone number. I wasn't able to see any more results since access to the full report costs money, but based on the accuracy of this information, I'm sure I would have seen a lot more detail about my personal life on this website.
Image source: Intelius.com
3. ZabaSearch
Searching for my name on ZabaSearch did not bring up many results, so I decided to do a reverse search using my phone number. Doing so brought up my dad's information: his name, approximate age, and address.
4. Radaris
The website Radaris also provided interesting new information about my life. While none of the profiles that came up under the search of my name were actually of me, there was an additional section about social networks that provided factual details about me. Here, I found a picture of myself that I use in many of my social media profiles, as well as where I graduated from middle school. The latter information is what shocked me the most; I thought that if I were able to uncover my education history, it would be from my high school or college career rather than from that long ago.
Image Source: Radaris.com
This website was quite shocking to me. It had more private information publically available before a paywall than any of the other websites. This information included my address, phone number, email, and some family members. However, it provided the incorrect birthday and age.
6. Facebook
Searching here brought up my profile as I expected. I haven't posted too much in the past few years, but it does have many pictures as well as my education history and some previous work experience.
Image Source: facebook.com
7. LinkedIn
I have only ever used LinkedIn as a project in my undergraduate career and my profile reflects this. I provide a somewhat informal introduction in the biography detailing hobbies (my old sorority and choir) and previous careers. This assignment has been a helpful reminder to give this page a little refresh as I know LinkedIn is a great resource that can help develop my personal learning network, as discussed last week.
Further Thoughts
Knowing the dangers of revealing too much information online, I absolutely think that kids should be taught to maintain awareness of their internet presence from a young age. Optimally, this would be taught by parents and reinforced by teachers. Teaching kids as early as elementary school will hopefully combat their need to publicly share every moment of their lives. While there will always be some pieces of personal information available to discover online, a level of privacy is still a valuable thing to maintain.
I also share the embarrassment fear sometimes more than the more mundane information drip. I think that this has been socially reinforced by the stories of an old picture or post getting people fired or "canceled" being used as scare tactics for younger digital citizens. I know for many years looking myself up would bring up a very saccharine poem "published" online, but that has not resurfaced for several years now during searches.
ReplyDeleteI was interested to hear the result of your reverse number look up! I kept meaning to go back and do that myself, but it slipped away from mind during the many searches I performed.
I'd recommend refreshing LinkedIn!
ReplyDeletePrivacy is valuable to maintain, but as technology advances are the privacy settings or privacy apps keeping up too? As a parent, I also ask about limitations set on social media for kids that are not ready, or maybe it's the parents who are not wanting to watch / monitor what their kid is viewing on screen. It's exhausting, but if authorities could have more choices available for social media appropriateness for our children, that may be helpful.
ReplyDeleteIt's important to know who should be doing this type of information and I totally agree that only young adults and parents should be doing this. Kids don't know what they will be searching about if they do this, and a lot of these websites could contain sensitive information, so it is much better for adults to handle this area of technology because you don't know what will happen if some hacker can obtain your personal information.
ReplyDeleteHi Francesca,
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to see that your middle school was listed in facts about you. Agree that I would think when it comes to education history your high school or college would be more likely to be listed. I agree with you that it is important to teach our children to be intentional about what they post online. Old posts you have made whether about something silly and embarrassing or deeply personal can be found by anyone who does any digging. Future jobs, schools, and curious people in your life can search the web about what you have posted so it is important to be cautious. As you said, there will always be something about you online but you can help influence just how much and the level of quality. Privacy is important and we should be teaching future generations how to properly maintain it. Great post!