Google Search

You give the Internet permission to do anything it wants the moment you go online. You log onto websites, post pictures, set maps to pinpoint your exact location—basically you share your life with the world. We’ve grown accustomed to thinking that this is normal but really it's not. We are now able to be our very own detectives with just your basic Internet connection.

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For this research I decided to Google a person I know everything about but would never have to run a search on for basic information. I also thought this was a good idea because I could actually then crosscheck the information I find with my friend to see if it was accurate or not. 

I began with Google. Ah…good ole trusty Google! My missions’ name: Emilia J. (I’m going to keep her last name private because I don’t want her name to pop up with one more additional link, haha!). This was my first search result: 

 

I clicked many of the links but none of them were my Emilia so I decided to type in ‘Emilia J. Chicago’ and I received many more links that looked legitimate. These were some of the results I found. 

I was astounded that I could find all this information online. I found her address, her phone numbers, her age/the year she was born,  the names of her parents and siblings, and even a map that showed me her neighborhood. This is all really important information that could get out of control if it got in the wrong hands. Having this information on her could lead to someone being able to find out even more information that would lead to more and more goods on my friend. All of that is no bueno!

It’s important to limit what you post online. You never know who is out to get your information. Younger people on the Internet are still blessed in thinking that nothing bad could happen to them. Unfortunately it is only when they are in trouble that they realize that their Internet tracks are what brought on the issues in the first place. We need to educate and teach our students that whatever you post online does in fact stay online forever.