Category Archives: Featured Article

Taking Control of Your Digital Footprint

Footprint (image by Greencolander, Flickr, CC)With each passing week it seems that we hear more controversy over our privacy online and the systems being put into place, particularly on social media platforms, that enable an increasing amount of data to not only be collected about us but publicly displayed.  For this reason, I thought it would be good to go back to an instructional post that will look at some of the ways you can reign in your digital footprint if you wish.

Your digital footprint is the total sum of the data out there that is connected in an identifiable way to you as an individual.  This has both public and private aspects: examples of private aspects are government databases, and public ones are usually online communications or profiles.  Being aware of the information about us, particularly that which is publicly available, is going to become an increasingly important skill to develop, and part of this awareness is an understanding of just where and how you can control these elements.

Unfortunately, it is increasingly true that you can’t control these things if you actually want to use services such as those provided by Google or Facebook (and you definitely can’t when it comes to government databases); however, we are thankfully still at the point where most public focused, and even quite a bit of corporate, data can still be controlled if you take a few simple steps.

Learn how to control your interface
The place to begin with is actually the element you have the most control over, the physical device or software that you are using to go online.  Learning how to use your firewall and browser security settings when going online is absolutely vital to building a solid foundation for digital privacy and ownership.  Combine this with an understanding of how websites work (for example, Cookies) and the data that is being traded back and forth when you visit one and you are on good standing.

Search for yourself online
Yes, I realise it’s kind of a running joke of narcissism to run an internet search on yourself; but the fact is that if you want to take control of your digital footprint you need to know just what is out there.  Of course, you are only going to be able to find those components that are publicly accessible – but at this point those are the ones worth focusing on.  Don’t just search for your name (particularly if it’s a common one), you have to search for your name and add various platforms/topics that you know you have discussed online in some fashion.  Add to this any commonly used aliases in order to get a more complete picture (pay particular attention to points where these aliases might overlap, allowing a connection to be made).  You will often be surprised just how long stuff sticks around.  When I did this, I found a guest-book entry from last century (remember website guest books? how quaint)…

Delete old accounts or contact websites
Once you know what’s out there, you can start trying to get rid of it (if you want to).  For online forums, if you can still remember your password then you can log in and start scrubbing clean manually.  You should do this particularly for any identifying information that you might have put out there, or even delete the account entirely if you no longer intend to use it (AccountKiller is useful for this, because it’s not always straight forward).

An alternative to deleting individual posts on forums is often to contact the site administrators and ask if your account can be deleted, along with all of the messages associated with it.  Many websites won’t like doing this for legacy reasons (it makes archived conversations difficult to follow when messages are missing), but if you ask nicely they’ll often do things like change the username or other options that distance the information from your digital footprint.  Also keep in mind that posts you make on Facebook groups are now publicly searchable (even if you made them years ago), so it might be time to go back and get rid of some of them because chances are you used your full name for Facebook, right?

Vary the information you provide
Part of taking control of your digital footprint comes from preventative measures, and one of the easiest and most effective ones is to vary the data you give for particular items.  For example, when you create usernames or login accounts don’t always use the same ones (particularly for public forums or comments); also keep in mind that you don’t always have to give your correct birth-date to just any random commercial company (yes, even Facebook), so have a few fake ones that you hand out.  There are countless other examples, but the point is to make your data more difficult to correlate with just one single individual.

There are likely many people out there that have your name, but few of them share the same birthday; fewer still birthday and city; fewer even still use your online handle etc.  Varying the data is about making it more difficult to trace connections, so wherever it is legal to do so you should be doing it unless you want everything you say to be connected directly to you and in the public domain.  It should also be obvious by now, but don’t use the same password for everything (!) – if you must reuse passwords at least create a layered system that gets more secure and less used as you move through it.

Pay attention to privacy settings
This one applies mostly to social media platforms, and in particular to the anti-privacy strategy of Facebook, but is also relevant to corporate databases that you might sign up to.  If you haven’t already checked your privacy settings/conditions (all of them, not just the basic ones), then you are probably in for a bit of a surprise about the amount of information you are allowing to be shared (or in the case of corporations, sold) about you.

Common things which people don’t consider are: allowing friends of friends to access your data; allowing third-party companies to access your data; allowing your listings to show up in public searches; allowing people to indicate your current location; grouping your contacts into different categories of transparency (separate work from play!); signing up for third-party offers and information; or giving over your name and address to just anyone who asks for it online or off.  Reigning in your social media privacy settings alone can go a long way towards controlling your overall digital footprint these days, so pay close attention to it.

Actively create your footprint
Taking control over something also means to be proactive about its creation, rather than just being involved in its deletion.  One of the best ways for you to control your digital footprint is to start with a clear idea in mind of what you want to be part of your public reputation and start developing it.  Social media profiles such as those on Linked In, Facebook, or Twitter; YouTube channels with video of yourself; Blogs and Websites etc.

All of these things are about the active creation of a digital footprint that you have designed rather than inherited.  You do have to keep in mind, particularly if you are young and outspoken, that you might change your view on things over time and be left with a clean up problem somewhere down the line (which is in large part what this article is discussing) – but in a world where online communication and representation is becoming increasingly unavoidable, maybe the best way of controlling your digital footprint is to embrace it wholeheartedly.  The point here really is to presume that everything you do online will be publicly accessible and connected to you, thereby making you take pause for thought before adding to the vast amount of data being created on a daily basis.  This might not truly be the case, particularly if you follow some basic rules, but it can’t hurt to presume it nonetheless.

Be aware of what a digital footprint is
The fact is that you are never going to be able to get rid of your digital footprint entirely – it actually exists in today’s society from the moment you are born and those details are put into the national register.  The amount of privately collated data is just staggering, and in many ways unfortunately unavoidable.  From a public data perspective, in many instances it can be quite beneficial to have easily identifiable information out there; particularly if you are trying to develop a reputation for personal or professional reasons.  What you must always keep in mind, however, is that there are certain types of information that can be used against you in negative ways (addresses, bithdays, full names, current location, photos, outspoken views).

Being aware of the information you are putting out is the first necessary step in deciding on whether you want it to be there or not.  Unfortunately, current social media platforms such as Facebook often try and slip these things past you without properly explaining their true implications. Your digital footprint can come back to haunt you when you are going for those job or university interviews; being unaware of it can also lead to issues such as identity theft, online stalking or social profiling to name but a few.  The key is to be informed and aware.  You might not be able to control many things that are already part of your digital footprint, but at the very least you can control some of the things that might be added to it in the future.  Taking control of your digital footprint is an important skill to master as we head further into the information age, and by following the few steps above you can be well on your way.

These are just a few small and easy ways that you can take more ownership over your digital footprint – can you add any other useful tips to the list?

[Review] Radio Free Albemuth: Into the Mind of Philip K Dick

Philip K DickYou could say that Philip K Dick is one of the main reasons why this blog even exists.  Not only because he is my most beloved author, but also due to the fact that his thoughts about technology and social progress were so ahead of their time that the level of foreshadowing they present is just remarkable. Tonight I was granted the wonderful opportunity to see a ‘sneak preview’ screening of the most recent adaptation of a Philip K Dick novel, Radio Free Albemuth, at the Sci-Fi London film festival.

The original novel was never published during Dick’s life, its material refused by his publishers and eventually incorporated into the book VALIS which discusses many of the same concepts.  The book was PKD’s attempt to make sense of some very strange and revelatory experiences that he had which began in 1974.  The story explores many of his usual themes of totalitarian government and the effects on the everyday citizen, whilst transposing his musings and rationalising of the powerful visions and events that were occurring in his life at the time.

Details of the plot should be left for when you view or read the work, so rest assured that the rest of this review is completely spoiler free.  But before I begin, let me first set the scene for the evening’s viewing – which just like one of Philip K Dick’s books was a miraculous juxtaposition of the normal with a sinister sense of oppression just behind the perfect facade.  It all began as we were heading to the cinema to pick up our tickets for the later screening…

As we were walking our way down the busy streets of London, I could hear the usual sirens of police cars circling their way around the city – not an unusual sound by any means in a metropolis of this size.  Crossing a small side street behind one such squad car, we walked passed a middle aged man with a large backpack on his back; standing against a street pollard as if resting and taking in his surroundings.  At the cinema across the street stood a number of storm troopers and Empire soldiers (this was the Sci-Fi London festival after all), with tourists grouping in front of them to take their picture with such an iconic image of Darth Vader’s evil empire.

Radio Free Albemuth screenJust as we begin to cross, walking in front of this man with his slick backed long hair and bulky backpack, an undercover police officer flashed a badge in his face and took him to one side.  The police car we had just walked passed had stopped right in front of us and an officer jumped out.

My first thought was they were conducting a random stop-and-search, you see such things happening every now and then in London, and we continued across the street figuring that the man would have his bag searched and be let on his way.  Which is when I heard more sirens approaching at a rapid pace.

We turned to see another police car pull up at speed in front of this loitering figure, the plain clothes police officer had at this point grabbed the man’s hands in an attempted arrest.  The man let out a cry for help as uniformed police officers jumped out of the cars to grab his backpack, a number of them converging on him to ensure that he could be handcuffed despite his defiant shouts and struggles.  We watched from across the street, presuming that he must have been a drug dealer or had committed some other crime that warranted such a quick and quite clearly targeted response by the state protection apparatus.

The whole event caused quite a scene right near one of London’s busiest tourist areas, everybody else had stopped in their tracks to watch this display of government control – and I’m sure that, just like I did, they all presumed that the man deserved to be arrested.  In fact, our first thoughts as a group were: ‘we were standing next to that guy when he was approached by the police.  He could have had a bomb in that bag, we’re lucky that he wasn’t a terrorist!‘.

I don’t want to digress too much with this scene, but I hope you will realise just how surreal it is to be picking up tickets for a movie about paranoia of totalitarian government and heavy handed state apparatus – storm troopers in full battle gear on one side of the street – and the real police arresting a man who was violently and very loudly protesting the event.  We knew nothing of the circumstances leading up to this confrontation, but we presume that he must have done something to deserve it.  That the state had protected us from some unforeseen and unknown danger.  We presumed that we were being helped; saved.  With that image in your mind, let me now discuss the latest adaptation of a Philip K Dick novel: Radio Free Albemuth.

Radio Free Albemuth screen 3The showing itself was a test screening as such, complete with feedback forms for us to fill out at the end.  We were told that our views on the film may impact the manner in which it is finally edited, and the chances of it finding wider distribution of one kind or another.  Let me begin then by telling you what I wrote in the final section of the form: ‘Thank you for providing us with such a gift for the legacy of PKD!

Being an independent film, there are the usual quirks that come with having such a low budget to play with.  There are quite a few visionary sequences in the piece that come with the kinds of special effects you often see on a late night sci-fi channel special – reminiscent of mid-90s shows like Quantum Leap and other such efforts.  There are also a few animated dream sequences, both in 2d and 3d, that show the lack of serious Hollywood money for the project.  Added to all of this, some of the performances do play a little wooden at times; again, as you would expect from a film that cannot afford A-list actors to take part.  But don’t think for one second that any of this impacts the film in any large way, far from it.

Because, in the end, it is these things – brought about by the very real restrictions of actually creating a feature length film with relatively little money – that are my only criticism; and they are minor criticisms at that.  The script does an amazing job of transplanting about 90% of the original text almost perfectly.  There were a few omissions (such as the ‘shoe-ad’ sequence) that I would be interested in hearing why they were removed.  But otherwise, there were only one or two points (such as the aversion to alcohol, and some of the conflict between Nick and his wife later in the film) that I could not remember being in the original book but were likely added in order to help the narrative process for those who were not familiar with the work.

Beyond this, it is a perfect adaptation of Radio Free Albemuth.  Absolutely spot on.  When you consider that this book was also Philip K Dick’s attempt to deal with his own experiences in a semi-autobiographical manner this means something a great deal more than it would have were it an adaptation of another of his short stories of which Hollywood seems to love to delve into for ideas.  This is the most accurate representation of Philip K Dick as a man that we have outside of his own words and appearances – it captures his soul perfectly, and faithfully recreates the inner turmoil that this true genius experienced towards the end of his life.

Radio Free Albemuth screen 2For those of you who are not aware, and it’s not a spoiler to say it, Philip K Dick himself is a character in this story – the stone pillar that exists at the centre of the other character’s chaotic whirlwind of emotion and personal upheaval.

It helps tremendously, then, that the role of Philip K Dick is by far the most convincing and magnetic performance on the screen, a truly wonderful piece of acting by Shea Whigham which completely exonerates him from his part in Fast & Furious recently (that’s the film snob in me coming out, I haven’t even seen it).  He captures the tenderness that Philip K Dick was known to display with such authenticity that it is difficult to imagine it done in any other way.  The other actors are at the very least perfectly capable and believable; with Hanna Hall, who plays sultry FAP (Friends of the American People: a Neighbourhood Watch version of the gestapo) agent Vivian Kaplan, another who wonderfully captures the essence of the role she was given.

The film is probably being most publicised because of the involvement of Alanis Morissette as Silvia Saddassa, and she has certainly been appropriately cast and brings soulfulness to the character – although she does give a slightly laboured performance at times.  Her presence in the film, however, does provide an important sense of genuine musical talent which is required and thankfully provided.  Those involved in the production of the film have also done a wonderful job when it comes to location scouting and providing the film with the right sense of slow-paced ominous build up that the book demands in order for the film to be an accurate adaptation.

Which is exactly what you get with Radio Free Albemuth – one of the most truthful and genuine on-screen depictions of the mind of Philip K Dick that has ever been, and, quite likely, ever will be produced.  This film is for the fans, for the legacy of Philip K Dick, but at the same time will hopefully introduce a whole new audience to a genius mind that was well ahead of his time and is even still today under-appreciated.

You don’t get the masterful cinematography of Blade Runner.  It doesn’t have the flawless characterisation of A Scanner Darkly.  Instead, Radio Free Albemuth provides us with the most faithful film representation we have to date of just who Philip K Dick was as a man, a writer, a mystic.

Seeing the surreal muscle-flexing of a society edging ever closer to a police state right before my eyes only served to prove to me completely and utterly that Philip K Dick is a man that needs to be read – and Radio Free Albemuth is as perfect a gift towards helping ensure the immortality of his message and legacy as one could ever ask for. A legacy left for those who need it. For the kids.

Ethical Blogging Series Roundup

The series on ethical blogging here at Future Conscience has proved to be quite popular. I’ve decided to do a quick roundup of the posts done so far; mainly so that new readers are able to catch up on what’s been done already. Here’s what we’ve covered so far.Continue Reading