A digital dossier is a report including the entirety of a person's digital history. Starting from birth, you and the people around you have everything from your name to your address to your credit card number on file somewhere in your digital dossier. This happens whether you choose to do it, your doctor does it or your friend decides to post a picture of you on the Instagram; one way or another, your digital profile exists and will continue to gain personal information about you the more you interact with technology. This is why it is important to be aware that such a thing exists and that there is no escaping it. Be mindful of what you post online or what kind of websites you choose to visit and the comments you make on different sites because everything goes down in the digital record books, and there is no erasing them.
Some people may mistake their web life with their actual lives, due to how increasingly easy it is to immerse oneself in the virtual world. Through social media, many people experience situations differently than they do off screen, which causes some to get caught up in such activity forgetting that at the end of the day, it's just a life lived through technology. The more time a person spends online the more their digital dossier grows and detailed information about them is tracked.
Be careful what you do online.
Thanks to the internet and primarily social media, your privacy no longer exists. Every selfie you post, every article you read, every comment you make and every word you google is cataloged online. Future employers, advertisers and even hackers have the ability to dig up information on you whether you give them permission or not. It is possible to dig up information from years — even decades — ago. Deleting your search history won't delete the information from online databases, which allows hackers, government officials and others to collect any personal information you've ever submitted online.
Say you don't have a Facebook or Instagram account. Say you have never made a personal profile online in your life. Your privacy is still at risk because virtually, everyone exists online in some shape or form. For example, a friend of yours is an active member of Twitter, or your brother started his own blog. Whenever they post personal information, it can be traced back to the people around them. Even if you simply create an email account, you are still required to submit personal information about yourself. In this day and age, it is nearly impossible to live a successful and comfortable life without using the technology around you, which is why it is important to understand the risks that come with it and to take action if you dislike having all of your privacy stolen from you by others.