Negative Consequences
Your Digital Footprint, no matter how well controlled, will always have some negative consequences. Most of these issues are ones of privacy and the real life effects that your online actions can have. One of the largest positive consequences is arguably one of the largest negative ones. Everything on the internet is stored, and everything you ever post on social media sites can be seen by potential future employers. This can greatly effect your job opportunities, as most modern employers run background checks on the internet in order to get a better idea of who they are hiring. If any of your internet profiles contain questionable material like profanities, explicit photographs of instances of general irresponsibility, they would be much less likely to hire you over somebody with a clean, friendly online profile. Job interviews have become much less important in modern times as often first impressions are more accurate by tracking your digital footprint. This can also affect you socially. Much like employers do, Friends, acquaintances and even strangers will see parts of your digital footprints, whether it is from social media sites, a personal or professional website or even your browser history. This can change how people react to you. If your digital footprint is negative or unfriendly, it can make people less likely to want to introduce themselves to you, or decrease the quality of your current relationships. An important thing to remember is that your digital footprint can affect not just you, but the people around you. If you do something negative or offensive, they can be affiliated with that. For example if you are facebook friends, you 'tag' them in something questionable or you accidentally reveal information about them without their permission. Your actions can affect others, whether you intend for it to or not. There is also the issue of online privacy. Most commercial websites collect information about you, whether it is simply the fact that you viewed the site to your shopping habits, location, acquaintances and even bank account details. In the wrong hands, this component of your digital footprint can be devastating for you. A recent example of this is the Sony Pictures hack. Although this was not technically the fault of the company, the information they possessed online had devastating consequences to not only the company, but it's employees and affiliates. Hackers released all kinds of information, from film scripts and trailers to much more personal things such as Salaries, Private E-mails and account information from services such as the Playstation network. Even though nobody was physically hurt, people lost their jobs, and high-profile individuals had their reputations tarnished, some losing their jobs. This is in addition to bomb and terror threats.While being a rather extreme example, it clearly illustrates some of the negative consequences to leaving your information online. You don't know who has this information or what they are doing with it. Although it can have positive effects, like making it easier to find what you want online, it can also have devastating negative ones like Identity theft. It is these consequences that makes digital footprints a moral issue.