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Your Digital Dossier

April 10th, 2009

We know so little about what’s in our “permanent records” and yet those records can have such a significant impact on what we do–and are allowed by others to do.

The first we might learn about this is in elementary school, when someone threatens us with a mark in our “permanent record.” Most people don’t give their records much thought, believing that certain entries expire. While this may be true (tickets disappear from our driving record after 7 years, and a bankruptcy from our financial records after 10 years. However, we don’t know and often can’t confirm the removal of anything from today’s digital records, since the urge to save data is so strong by people creating the databases, and the cost to save data is so small.

Coaching moment: It’s an informative and practical exercise to take a period of time and create your own digital dossier that says everything about you. Take notes on where you went, what you spent, how long you took and what considerations aided you in making a decision, who you talked with, what you said. Make your notes as detailed as possible, since in some situations your conversations or travels are being monitored by videos.

At the end of your recording period, look back to see what you recorded. Now here comes the fun part: what could someone who didn’t know you misconstrue or misunderstand? What information could be taken out of context and be used in a harmful way?

Remember: it’s not that you don’t have anything to hide. It’s that the power to use your data isn’t in your hands.

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