Musings: Our online lives become digital trails
Beware of what cellphones can do. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
The dark web is a hidden layer of the internet that operates beyond normal search engines and is intentionally designed to obscure identity, location and accountability. While it has legitimate uses, it also hosts large-scale criminal marketplaces where stolen and aggregated personal data is openly bought and sold. It isn’t chaotic or random. It is a structured marketplace with automated software continuously inspecting public social media profiles gathering photos, captions, comments, usernames, friend lists, hashtags, timestamps and geolocation clues. This raw data is aggregated into data sets and bundled for sale.
Once collected, the data is monetized in layers. Entry-level buyers may purchase bulk data sets for identity farming, scam scripting, or AI training, including face recognition, deepfake generation and voice cloning when video or audio is available. More sophisticated criminal groups refine these profiles into “ready-to-use identities” that support fraud, impersonation, social engineering and long-term targeting.
Vacation posts, real time location tags and repeated home imagery significantly increase the value of a profile by confirming when a home is empty, what valuables may exist, and which security measures are present. These bundles are sold cheaply at first, then resold multiple times as they are enriched with additional data from breaches, public records or other platforms. This relies almost entirely on voluntarily shared public posting.
The most disturbing aspect is permanence. Once images or metadata enter these markets, they are copied endlessly. Even if a post is deleted later, the data often persists.
Children don’t get a choice about the digital footprint being created for them by their loved ones. When their photos, names, routines and locations are shared publicly, an identity is assembled that can follow them for years. This digital identity is being constructed before they are old enough to consent or protect themselves. That data can resurface later as impersonation, harassment, fake accounts or manipulated images, and in some cases, it can interfere with future schooling, employment, financial identity or personal safety.
What is shared today may shape how the world sees our children tomorrow, and once that information is copied underground, it becomes inventory and can’t be taken back. Protecting children online isn’t about being secretive or fearful; it’s about being responsible stewards of their future.
— Frank Morisco, Melville
The writer is an educator and engineer who provides AI consulting for schools, construction and aerospace.
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