Unconsciously leaving traces

Bread crumbs left behind in the digital forest

Surfing the Web is like walking barefoot on freshly poured concrete, we leave indelible marks along the way. The more we walk that digital path, the longer the trail of digital footprints we leave.

Millions of users believe they surf the Web anonymously. They add information to Web sites or Web shops, they open personal accounts on social networks, and then they hide behind a screen and a pseudonym that gives them a false sense of anonymity.

Like it or not, everything you do on the Internet is recorded in at least the databases of information you have access to and that of your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Affecting consumers' lives

Every day we create about 2.5 trillion bytes of data on the Internet. Big tech companies and government agencies are trying to use that data to influence the "real" lives of consumers and citizens.  

The NSA and many ISPs have the data to know everything about your habits, your tastes, your lifestyle and your activities. Besides voluntary and visible traces (comments, photos on social networks), there are many unseen and unintentional traces, including IP address, browsing history, search archives and preferences. Navigation data is used to analyze your entire journey on the web.