Reflecting on Digital Identity
Saj and Mirror 2016 by Rami Tareef, CC BY-SA 4.0
A life time ago when I was in high school a classmate of mine had a lucrative side hustle selling pirated satellite television boxes. What set him apart from the dozens of others who did this was that he actually wrote the code that circumvented the security protections. Years later our paths crossed again and it turns out that he now runs his own cyber security firm that does consultation work across the country. During our conversation he told me that “Google probably knows you better than you know yourself.” He went on to say my buying habits, location data, search histories, and social media presence create a composite picture of who you are in the digital space.
The idea that my activities are constantly shaping my digital identity was foremost in my mind when it came time to write this week’s blog post. What have I been putting out into the world and what does it say about me? What have I done to help my students nurture a positive online presence? How does the concept of digital identity connect to digital citizenship?
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