We are all evolving into digital beings. It is very common to have an online identity spanning dozens of websites that incorporate our name, mailing address, credit card information, and other personal details that make our online presence as unique as our interaction with the physical world. It is now easy to share our interests, thoughts, and opinions with our online community of friends and family throughout the world.
In parallel, technology is developing at an increasingly rapid pace. The search capabilities of Google are astounding, and the emergence of new data mining technologies will allow more accurate information to be found in much less time.
It is becoming easier and easier for companies and governments to construct market data based on demographic information readily available on the Internet. This information can be utilized for many purposes. One common example is to create marketing information to design ads that are specifically targeted to you. Companies can now catch your attention much easier, because they have a glimpse of your interests and hobbies from your online identity. A more sinister example is for police or companies to use your information to make inferences about your professional or personal life, or to allow criminals to construct a fraudulent identity.
For example, many websites use personal information questions as password resetting tools. However, if you have posted your grandmother’s name or a similar answer used to secure an account somewhere else on the Internet, that information could be found in order to reset your passwords on affected accounts.
Apple is a prime example of a company who has access to a large repository of personal information. The company is essentially able to identify your tastes in music, which books and magazines you like to read, and what genres of podcasts you like to listen to. Imagine the type of digital identity they could construct from someone who utilizes the iTunes Store and the App Store on a very frequent basis.
Now, imagine if a computerized entity like IBM’s Watson was let loose on the Internet to search and interpret private data instead of trivia answers. What would it find? The possibilities are scary.
The following are some logical tips on how to limit your online presence.
1. Don’t use the same username/password for your accounts.
This precaution is a no-brainer. Utilizing the same username across a wide variety of sites makes it easy to determine what you have been up to online. If you want some examples, try to search for your username online. I was able to find posts that I made back in high school, just by searching for my past usernames. If you utilize one global username, a smart program can construct a diverse profile of your surfing habits.
On the same note, don’t use the same password for multiple accounts. If your email account is compromised, a globally used password infers your Facebook account, your iTunes account, and potentially identity sensitive logins such as your online banking are now compromised. Take two minutes and choose strong password for each of your memberships, and change them on a regular basis.
2. Limit the information you post online.
The most proactive approach you can take to protect your online identity is to minimize the amount of information you put there in the first place. For example, Facebook gives you the ability to list your places of previous employment and the projects you have worked on. Is this information really necessary to post to the public? Your work history could be invaluable information from which to construct a fraudulent identity. Or, this information can construct a perfect timeline that can be used by marketers or researchers to make assumptions about your professional or personal life.
Before you post, think logically. You don’t have to completely put a stop to posting personal information online, just try to eliminate the most obvious pieces of information that could be used to steal your identity or to track you, such as all of your phone numbers, your emails, subscriptions, etc. Granted, you can’t stop every bit of personal information from entering the public domain, but you can remove a great amount of it yourself.
3. Be careful when you sign up for membership at new websites.
The majority of us don’t read the terms of service for websites. They are extremely long and filled with legal jargon that is extremely complicated to decipher. However, there are a number of websites that sneakily hide agreements in these paragraphs that authorize the website to share your information with third parties. These can be anyone, such as spammers, market researchers, corporations, or the government.
When you sign up for a new website, quickly search for terms within the agreement to determine if your information can be disseminated to third parties. You’d be surprised what you may find in an agreement.
4. Don’t keep all of your confidential information in one place.
Your identity is composed of a handful of key documents. For example, your passport, your driver’s license, health card, and birth certificate are the primary documents used to verify your identity. Don’t do something extremely foolish such as store copies of all of these documents in one place. For example, scanning all of your personal identity documents and storing them in an unsecured Word document is a terrible idea. If your security is compromised, this document will essentially give an individual the ability to apply for nearly anything they want: a credit card, a new driver’s license, or even a new passport.
If the above warning isn’t enough, do not store this information online! Storing it within your Gmail account or your Dropbox folder takes the location where your data is stored out of your control. Remember, you may be able to delete a file on your computer, but how sure are you that deleting information on the Internet actually removes it for good?
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Just remember. Be smart about how you manage your online presence. You don’t have control over everything, but you can take a proactive stance and limit a great deal of what is available online.
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