Digital Breadcrumbs

This morning's paper had an interesting article about how text messages have become today's equivalent of the "lipstick on the collar" as a sign of a cheating spouse. My first thought was how glad I was that I don't have to worry about that. My second thought was about how the general public is less anonymous than they realize.

Something that most people don't realize what information is tracked on the Internet. This BLOG site that I use is owned by Google and requires me to log in before I make a post. I generally don't bother to log out. That means whenever I do an Internet search on Google, they keep track of what I am looking for. I don't have anything to hide and so that doesn't bother me. Whenever I do a search for "Ham," Google could use previous search criteria to know that I am looking for information about "ham radio" and not "ham lunchmeat."

Another thing that most people don't realize is that websites have a fairly good idea of where you are physically located. I use a cable modem to log onto the Internet from home. My service provider assigns my cable modem a unique Internet protocol (IP) address. I don't pay to have a static address which means my IP address can change at any time. However it is rare to have that happen. Even then, the addresses assigned are specific to a local area. That means that websites can determine your location down to a several block area.

Again, I am not worried about a website knowing my IP address or approximately where I live. Once again, Google and other Internet search sites keep track of this information. Suppose I do a search for a seemingly innocent topic but decide to visit a questionable website. Now suppose one of my children does a similar search using a different computer in the house. My cable modem presents only a single IP address to Google. Based on my previous poor choice, there could be more questionable sites presented to my children.

If you take the time to sit down and run through a few other scenarios, it doesn't take much to figure out that it is not hard for law enforcement officials to determine who is downloading illegal copies of music or movies. Your Internet service provider also knows what content you are viewing from the false privacy of your own home. If you are like me and don't have any skeletons in your closet, then this shouldn't concern you. However if you are in the closet about how you like to look at pictures of skeletons in compromising postions, you might want to pick a new hobby. Especially if you are famous or plan on running for public office.