Digital Tattoo

Wow! This week's activity was very eye opening. I didn't know that there were so many different places that my information could be published online. This week I completed a data mine on myself. What this means is that I used a handful of different search engines and looked up myself.

My Data Mine

The first place that I searched was Nuwber. I started by typing in my first and last name without a location. There were a lot of search results. I thought I found myself on the second page because it had my name and the name of the city I grew up in, but when I clicked on it, it wasn't me. It was a women with a different address, phone number, and past addresses. This did remind me that there was another Elizabeth Van in my town. She went to my same doctor, and they once got our records mixed up even though we were very different ages. Once I added my location I came up as the fifth and tenth results. They had my name, age, location, the last place I lived, my parents' names, and my siblings names. 

After that I searched my Twitter and Instagram user name "blou_van" in google. I was surprised to see that the first results were links to hashtags that I used to use in college even though my twitter is private. When I clicked on images I was really shocked. Images of my college roommate, sister, and a few other college friends showed up. There were also a few pictures that I had posted and the twitter page of my college. 

Google Search Results (Image Source) 

I next went to Pipl. I think I found this one the most shocking. They had my current Facebook profile picture, my age, location, where I studied abroad, my usernames, and all of my immediate family members names. They a place of work for my as well, but it was two years old. At the bottom of the page they had links to my (very outdate) Linkedin, Facebook, Pinterest, and outdate Foursquare account. 

I went to Radaris. This website had a lot less information. They had an outdated location, and my age. They had a list of relatives that included my siblings, including my sister-in-law (the first time I saw her name), my step-mom, mom, but not my father. 

When I googled my names as "Elizabeth M. Van", I didn't come up in any of the first few pages of Google. There was one image of me when I clicked on images. 

I went to Truthfinder and Instant Checkmate last. These two sites looked almost the same from the moment I opened them. Both of these websites had my locations (current and past), my name, age, and immediate relatives. What I found interesting on Instant Checkmate is that my sister in law showed up right below me. She has the same name as me (other than middle) since her last name changed when she married my brother. Her information was also correct. 

Reflection 

This was really eye opening to me. The information that I found throughout these searches was generally very similar across all the search engines. They generally knew my name (first, middle, last), where I live currently, where I have lived, and my immediate family members names. Pipl, by far, had the most information. It doesn't really bother me that this information is out there. These are all things that could easily be figured out based on my Facebook page. 

School Setting

I definitely think this is something that needs to be taught in the school setting. In fact, just last week, the technology specialist in my school came into my room and did a lesson on internet safety with my 4th grade students. I think as soon as the kids begin to get their own pages or become active on the internet they should get some sort of age-appropriate lesson on internet safety.  These kids grow up with the internet in the palm of their hands, and if they don't know how to use it safely and protect themselves from an early age, they could run into a lot of trouble as they grow up.