Personal Data Mining

 Digital Tattoos

Image Source: Giphy

This week I did a deep dig into the internet about myself but before I actually did the search there were a couple of thoughts that I had that I wanted to be sure to jot down first and reference back for a reflection at the end of this blog.

Thoughts:

1. I don't think much will come up for me because I don't use social media very much, will this be true?

2. I do wonder what information comes up for me when I search my name, how much of it will be accurate?

3. I wonder how many "Jillian Roman" or "Jillian K Roman" there are that will pop up that are not me

Doing a deep dive: 

For reference these were searched in both Chrome and Safari. I chose websites that I knew of and that I had never heard of being curious to see what is really out there about me and curious to see if it was even right. 

Google:

So when I searched google for "Jillian Roman" about 5,390 results appeared in 0.54 seconds & "Jillian K Roman" about 123 results

 appeared in 0.45 seconds. 

Image Source: Smart Background Checks

Image Source: LinkedIn

Image Source: Pinterest

So when I initially searched "Jillian Roman" the first image for smart background checks came up with a LOT of information that I have greyed out like my address and previous phone numbers I have had. When I searched "Jillian K Roman" only my LinkedIn came up and my Pinterest account which is very old, the rest of the information was for Jillian [K] Roman's but they were not me.

Nuwber:

Having never heard of this one, I was curious to see what this website was and if anything came up that was correct about me. So everything was accurate, and it was laid out and organized pretty nicely.

Image Source: Nuwber

Facebook:

I decided since I do have a facebook I wanted to see if my profile comes up and see how easy is it to actually find me. I scrolled for about 4 minutes and realized I still had not seen my profile pop up from the initial search. I searched both "Jillian Roman" and "Jillian K Roman". This actually made me really happy! 

Youtube:

When I searched both Jillian Roman & Jillian K Roman, none of my info popped up or videos, I have probably 2 posted that were for school.

Radaris:

Image Source: Radaris

Searching Radaris, I scrolled for about 30 seconds before I found my information. Some of it was correct some was wrong and also VERY VERY old.

My Life:

This website gathers key data points from your personal information to your social media information

Image Source: My Life

This screenshot was an attempt to show you what your score is calculated from but it got cut off because it was moving so quick. With 10 minutes I had to spare I finally got some results. This website had this to say about me:

Image Source: My Life

Since I was not going to pay for any of this information I left it as is and came to the conclusion that this website probably had the same to offer as the previous websites since I don't have any lawsuits, incarcerations or liens/bankruptcies. 

Truth Finder:

Image Source: Truth Finder

This is a screenshot I took of this website trying to identify who I am based on my first and last name and the fact that I live in IL. This website actually came up when I searched my name in peek you. This website probably took the longest, I want to say it was about a total of 30 minutes. What it showed me was 

that I needed to input my information to unlock what they wanted to "reveal" about me. Heres what it looked like:

Image Source: Truth Finder

I obviously did not input my information and came to the same conclusion that I did with my life which was that it probably was going to share the same information from the previous websites that showed my address, old jobs, and old phone numbers. 

Answers to my initial thoughts:

1. I don't think much will come up for me because I don't use social media very much, will this be true?

Answer: My thought was spot on, all it offered was addresses, phone numbers, old jobs, and siblings, some were correct some were not.

2. I do wonder what information comes up for me when I search my name, how much of it will be accurate?

Answer: About 99% of this info was accurate the rest was not.

3. I wonder how many "Jillian Roman" or "Jillian K Roman" there are that will pop up that are not me

Answer: There are A LOT of Jillian Roman's and Jillian K Roman's that were not me at all! I found that interesting and made me realize that my name is more common than I thought.

Reflection:

I have to say because I already am such a private person I wasn't too concerned about what would pop up online for me when I searched my name with and without my middle initial which is how I typically use my name online. I was not confused or concerned about what I saw because I already I understand that a lot of private information is public information such as addresses, schools you attended, siblings, work etc.

What I do think is that this is a skill that should be taught to students because it will really show them that what you put online really is for everyone to see and once it has been posted its likely to never be taken down even if it is removed by that person. I do think that it should be a combination of both parents, counselors and teachers showing and enforcing this to the students of tomorrow. I think this because we live in such a time where no one is really private anymore and I don't think people really understand that once you put something out there that its there forever.