Difference between revisions of "Avinash Bevoor"

Revision as of 18:38, 18 February 2021

For the most part, the data identity that I embody online is a caricature of my personal identity. While a google search of the name “Avinash Bevoor” brings up a number of links, the data that I have found collected on myself from a variety of sources paints a reflection of myself that is startlingly accurate in some ways and completely wrong in others.

Introduction

When first exploring the extent of my digital footprint I began by searching my name in various search engines. This included the platforms of Google, Safari, and Bing. One problem with this approach that I ran into almost immediately was that my search results were already tailored to me, resulting in numerous articles and social media profiles appearing as the first links. In order to circumvent this issue, I used incognito and private search modes in order to get a better understanding of what the average user would see when first searching my name. Additional problems that I ran into while searching for my identity using this method was that I would get different search results depending on the name I searched for. While a search for the name "Avinash Bevoor" would result in a list of articles that I was listed in and a link to my work profile, searching for my nickname, "Avi Bevoor", tended to show results for my social media pages.

Finally, in an effort to get a more in-depth understanding of my digital identity, I also searched for my name on the various social media platforms I am active on. This included platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, all of which displayed my profile as relatively accessible. In addition to this, I also downloaded the personal data that specific platforms had collected on me. This included data collected by Facebook, Google, and TikTok

Data Identity

Search Engines

From the results that appeared while searching for both my nickname and full name on a vaiety of search engines, I found the data to be surprisingly detailed and accurate. The first few links that appeared in my searches, which included public records and articles that I have published, all consisted of data that I had willingly released into the internet. One result that surprised me, however, was the voter record information that had a list of my name, address, and family members. In addition, I was shocked to find that the website that I had published for my 9th grade geography class was also still available to view.

However, despite the information that was available about me, when looking for any photos of myself through these search engines, no results were found.

Data Brokers

The information that was available on my identity through data brokers such as mylife.com was not nearly as comprehensive as the data available through search engines. While these sites managed to accurately report my name and hometown, there were no other information about me available. In a list of family members and known associates that was displayed on the site was a list of names that I had never before seen.

Social Media

The data that could be found on my social media pages was not much more explicit than any of the other methods of searching that I had used previously. Of the existing social media platforms that I use, I am not very active on any of them. In searching for myself on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok, there was very little data that was publiclly available to those who do not actively follow me on these sites. While photos of me were finally beginning to show up, these mainly included my profile picture and the one photo of myself that I had posted on my Instagram wall.

However, while there was little information about my digital identity in the posts that I had made on these platforms, after downloading the data

Privacy

Digital Caricature