Webuser Magazine 461 Back Issue

WIPE YOUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT
In real life, most of what you’ve done over the last twenty odd years has faded from memory, but the web never forgets. Your “digital footprint” never fades – it just keeps growing. Every Google search, every Amazon buy, every Facebook ‘like’ – the whole caboodle follows you around like some gigantic This Is Your Life book that the world can see and search. That dead weight of regrettable purchases and tagged photos isn’t just embarrassing, it also compromises your security. When your personal details and habits are all over the internet, you’re easy pickings for hackers, snoopers and blackmailers. Every week, new reports appear demonstrating proof that your footprint is being used against you. Facebook has suffered its worst hack ever, Twitter has been caught leaking millions of private messages and Google is fighting for its right to include dodgy old info about you in search results. In this feature, we explain how to get your data out of harm’s way and claw back some digital dignity.