Have you ever fed berries to geese? Learn how your online actions leave invisible traces shaping your digital presence."

Have You Ever Fed Berries to Geese?

Observing animal behavior can be a good starting point for reflecting on social and technological phenomena.
Geese that are fed berries leave behind clear, dark traces.
Similarly, every Internet user leaves “digital traces”-data recorded by computer systems.
Just as you can infer what birds ate from their traces, analyzing online activity allows reconstruction of detailed information about a person. Every click, post, or search creates a record that is highly likely to be analyzed.

Introduction to Digital Privacy

Imagine that every action you take online leaves an invisible trace, somewhat like footprints in the sand, although it more closely resembles fingerprints on everything you touch:

• Every Google search
• Every post, like, or comment
• Every click on a link

Digital privacy is about controlling these traces-deciding who can see them, who can analyze them, and how long they are stored.

Digital Traces and Metadata

It’s not just about what you write, but also how you do it:

• When you send an email, the server knows where it was sent from and at what time.
• Your photos sometimes contain embedded GPS data.
• Even if you delete something, it often remains in system logs.

In short: everything you do online leaves breadcrumbs that someone can later combine to reconstruct your digital profile.

Privacy vs. Anonymity

It’s important to distinguish between two concepts:

• Privacy - control over the data you share
• Anonymity - hiding your identity online

You can protect your privacy without being anonymous (e.g., using Facebook but not sharing your location or phone number).
Conversely, you can be anonymous but still not protect your privacy in other ways. You may have a second online identity that has no connection to your real, official digital profile.

Four Approaches to Privacy

1. No need for protection
   If someone believes they have no sensitive information, they may let friends use their devices. If this causes no discomfort, further strategies may not be necessary.

2. Minimizing digital traces
   This involves limiting the exposure of data online, for example by managing privacy settings carefully or using alternative services.

3. Creating a new digital identity
   A more complex strategy, requiring a clear separation of private life from online activities. In practice, it means creating a parallel, anonymous identity not linked to your real person, allowing you to operate online discreetly while maintaining an “official” presence on popular platforms (e.g., Facebook, Gmail).

4. Living entirely offline
   The most difficult solution, almost a luxury in today’s world, requiring complete disconnection from the digital space.
   
   

Motivations for Protecting Privacy

Reasons for caring about privacy can vary:

• Experience of cyberattacks or identity theft
• Monitoring by government agencies, corporations, or even close acquaintances
• Lack of trust in the operations of tech companies
• Desire to avoid marketing tracking and personalized advertising

Modern AI systems can create a psychological profile with just about 200 social media activities (e.g., likes), often more accurately than even family or friends know about you.

First Step - Awareness of Your Traces

The most important actions you can take today:

1. Consider what information you leave online.
2. Decide which of it you really want to share.
3. Consciously manage your privacy settings on the services you use.

Digital privacy begins with awareness-the rest is practice and daily choices.