digital footprint

Traces of data left behind by a person using a digital system. A person’s digital footprint includes all information actively provided by that person, such as interactions on social networks, online purchases, emails and instant messages. It also includes passive information, such as logs of software installed and used on a computer, metadata associated with files, a user’s internet protocol (IP) address, a device being used to access a webpage, and a user’s browsing history stored as cookies or by internet service providers.