Digital Fingerprint on The Today Show

With a lot of fuss surrounding people trying to delete their Facebook account, I spoke with the Today Show’s Sarah Harris about what it means to have your digital fingerprint out in the intangible either that is the Internet.

For a start, the information you put on your Facebook page is no longer private. As soon as it is in the public domain – and depending on your privacy settings – it there for all and sundry to see. Not only that, but it is unclear whether this information is kept on Facebook’s server after you delete your account.

Second, this just isn’t the case for Facebook alone – any information that you put on the Internet is open to scrutiny, or might be used unscrupulously by third parties. At the end of the day, you have to take some personal responsibility as to what gets put on the Internet.

Finally, you have to realise that once it is out there, the chances of the information being used by a third-party are quite high, so always ask yourself “do I want this info out there?” If you answer that question honestly, then the rest should follows as to what you should post.