When I google myself, I do not find any information about me. The first thing that appears when I google my full name is a sales manager. When I go to check images of my name, I do not see any images of me. It just shows random people or food. Also, on social media nothing appears. On Instagram, the first account that is shown is a photographer. My account most likely isn’t shown due to the name of the account as it doesn’t include my last name so finding it would be hard unless you knew my account name. Even if you found my account, I have it set to private, and I have no photos of myself or anything posted. Also, I have Twitter, but it goes by an online alias which nobody knows as my online identity is completely different from my real identity to have privacy and so none of my personal information is leaked, and or out in the internet somewhere. I have nothing posted about myself on my Twitter as it’s primarily used for gaming and or viewing funny images/videos. Any other social media account I own is also not related to my real identity whatsoever. Any other form of personal information like my email shows nothing as the names of my gmail accounts are randomly created. If anybody were to view any of my social media accounts they wouldn’t know anything about me. They’d either have to figure out by messaging me personally to know me, and or talk to the people I follow or who follow me. As well, I believe my digital footprint is an example of control of identity as I have decided whether my online accounts are my real name or an online alias I go by. I control it heavily as I do not share my personal accounts with anybody online as it could be potentially dangerous. I do not leak my real identity either as my profile pictures isn’t me, and I do not post any images of me or people I know. Lastly, the only times any of my personal information was public to anybody on the internet were database leaks which revealed IPs of several thousands of people, which didn’t affect me as my online name on that database was an alias I went by which nobody knew. Obviously, I changed my IP as I have a dynamic router to prevent any DDoS attacks. My digital footprint impacts me beneficially and positively as my information is safe and secure compared to my friends. Overall, my digital footprint is very safe and secure.

In the future my digital footprint will not affect my post-secondary school applications. If they did lots of research into my social media accounts and or anything about me online they would find nothing that would harm my chances of being accepted to that post-secondary school. I have nothing of me doing anything bad such as drinking alcohol, smoking, and or anything illegal. I make sure if I do post anything online it isn’t going to affect me negatively or get me into any trouble. As well, my digital footprint will not affect my family and friends. My digital footprint will not cause any trouble for my family and friends as I do not post anything about them that would lead to anything negative such as people commenting rude things about them. I make sure that they are also safe online by making sure they don’t post any personal pictures or information publicly and making sure they aren’t going on scamming, or phishing sites that would harm them.

I also want to say that just because you have a private account, that doesn’t mean your information is actually private. It can easily be leaked and found. Also, passwords can easily be leaked if a website doesn’t have a secure database. I’ve been in a situation where my account would’ve been taken but I was using a secure browser (Firefox) which hashes all your data such as passwords, usernames, IPs, etc… Personally, I have 2fa on lots of my online accounts which is extremely useful because if somebody logs into your account they need to get an access code which they can’t receive. I’d recommend using applications such as ‘Authy’ to secure your account even more. Lastly, all your personal information could be taken if you download malicious software and run that application. Millions of people have downloaded viruses which infect their computer and take over to completely steal your information and annihilate your computer. Make sure to download an antivirus program such as Malwarebytes. Finally, I’d recommend being cautious of what you post online, and just use common sense. Hopefully my post will benefit you in a variety of ways.