Digital Footprints

This is the running file of everything we publish: explainers, walkthroughs and plain-English investigations into what happens after you post, search, sign up or show up in a record.

Articles are written by Ryan Mercer, the disclosed editorial pen name our content team uses, and each one works through the same questions. Who has the information? Can search engines see it? How long might it last? What can you change?

New pieces land here first, then get filed into a section. If you already know what you're dealing with, jump straight to a section below. If you don't, start with the newest article and follow its links.

Under the list, the wire pulls headlines from Krebs on Security and EFF's Deeplinks so you can see what's moving between our own stories. Those headlines belong to their publishers. Click through to read them in full.