Selected news stories about the Pew Internet Project and articles citing our data.
Who's Doing All The Ego Surfing?
12/17/2007 | 
Coverage
Kenneth Corbin , InternetNews.com, Ecommerce
'"More than twice as many Internet users today are plugging their own names into a search engine to find out what kind of personal information is available on the Web than just five years ago, according to new research from the Pew Internet Project.
The study, titled "Digital Footprints: Online Identity Management and Search in the Age of Transparency," found that while people are increasingly aware of the trail of information they leave on the Web, the majority of Internet users are not worried about that information and most do not take steps to limit it.
The "age of transparency" refers to the rise of self-authored content on the participatory Web, where the level of personally identifying information goes much deeper than just a name, address, phone number and e-mail address.
The Pew researchers have pointed out that the proliferation of social networks, blogging and photo and video sharing has created an online landscape where people can not only be found through simple search, but enough of their identities are readily available online that they become "knowable."
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