digital traces
Imagine the following situation: you have written an application letter for an attractive job with a much responsibility. The recruiter makes a first selection. One of the things she does is searching the Internet. She finds you on Facebook and sees a lot of pictures of you visiting parties and drinking beers. She puts your application letter aside, they were looking for a serious person.
The recruiter made use of your digital traces. Nearly everyone leaves these traces on the Internet. They can be articles in on-line school newspapers, your presentation on social networks like Facebook, comments you made on blogs and so on. Often you have no influence on those traces: they are stored in big computer networks and cannot be changed anymore.
So at an early age, students have to learn that what they publish about themselves can be seen all over the world for a very long period. They also have to learn about the possibilities to protect themselves and about the many choices that they can make.
