Difference between revisions of "Ian Mascarenhas"
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We’ve all probably Googled ourselves before. In the age of the Internet, everyone seems to have some sort of online presence. Whether it’s intentional or not, we all have created this presence simply by interacting with online artifacts such as social media. In the past ten years, data has become a very important component of the internet. Some even refer to it as the new oil. As a result, our data isn’t just out there for the purpose of Googling ourselves and having a laugh, but also so companies and other interested parties can access it and treat it like a commodity. | We’ve all probably Googled ourselves before. In the age of the Internet, everyone seems to have some sort of online presence. Whether it’s intentional or not, we all have created this presence simply by interacting with online artifacts such as social media. In the past ten years, data has become a very important component of the internet. Some even refer to it as the new oil. As a result, our data isn’t just out there for the purpose of Googling ourselves and having a laugh, but also so companies and other interested parties can access it and treat it like a commodity. | ||
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| + | ==<b>Introduction</b> == | ||
| + | I tried multiple different methods of searching. I used three different browsers: Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox. I also used incognito mode in all those browsers, but results were still consistent. Since my name is relatively unique, I first just searched it without modifications as “Ian Mascarenhas.” One problem I came across was that results were coming up specifically for my last name. To try and narrow my search further, I searched “Ian Mascarenhas Michigan” and “Ian Mascarenhas University of Michigan.” Both of these searches returned more specific results. Generally as I went through search results, I noticed that the queries fell in one of three categories. The first one are pages that I have created and control: my social media accounts. The second results are pages that I know exist, but I don’t have control over information on them. The last category are pages that have information on me without my knowledge or permission. | ||
==<b> My 'Google' Identity</b> == | ==<b> My 'Google' Identity</b> == | ||
Revision as of 15:53, 19 February 2021
We’ve all probably Googled ourselves before. In the age of the Internet, everyone seems to have some sort of online presence. Whether it’s intentional or not, we all have created this presence simply by interacting with online artifacts such as social media. In the past ten years, data has become a very important component of the internet. Some even refer to it as the new oil. As a result, our data isn’t just out there for the purpose of Googling ourselves and having a laugh, but also so companies and other interested parties can access it and treat it like a commodity.
Contents
Introduction
I tried multiple different methods of searching. I used three different browsers: Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox. I also used incognito mode in all those browsers, but results were still consistent. Since my name is relatively unique, I first just searched it without modifications as “Ian Mascarenhas.” One problem I came across was that results were coming up specifically for my last name. To try and narrow my search further, I searched “Ian Mascarenhas Michigan” and “Ian Mascarenhas University of Michigan.” Both of these searches returned more specific results. Generally as I went through search results, I noticed that the queries fell in one of three categories. The first one are pages that I have created and control: my social media accounts. The second results are pages that I know exist, but I don’t have control over information on them. The last category are pages that have information on me without my knowledge or permission.
My 'Google' Identity
Search Query: 'Kavya Pratapa'
Search Query: 'Kavyapranati Pratapa'
On the other hand, when I googled my given birth name ‘Kavyapranati Pratapa’, I was able to find almost 5 pages of content that all had relevance to me! The top two search results were my Linkedin and WayUp profiles, but I also saw many more local newspaper articles about me from my spelling bee days within the first two pages. As I moved through the search results, I even found random blogs and discussion threads about the National Spelling Bee competitions that contained my name, with one user commenting how "with a name like Kavyapranati Pratapa, they can spell anything". What was most surprising, however, was finding a hashtag on Twitter of the very word that I misspelled in the 2012 National Spelling Bee!
Apart from 'spelling bee' related results, there were a couple pages that contained my name from other activities, such as my vocal performances, my Medium blog that I don't post on anymore, the university's Honors Convocation last year, and even under another data broker service FastPeopleSearch.com. It was pretty shocking to see how many different sources of information contained my name. There was just too much out there.
