Digital Footprint
Etymology
The “footprint” metaphor entered computing to describe the space a system occupies, then broadened in the 2000s to the marks individuals leave online. It splits into an active footprint (what you deliberately share) and a passive one (what is logged about you without your notice). The image is apt: like footprints, the traces persist after you have moved on.
noun phrase · /DIJ-ih-tuhl FUUT-print/
The lasting trail of data a person leaves through their online activity, both what they post and what is recorded about them.
What it names
The sum of traces you leave behind, most of which you never chose to make.
Example
A background check assembled her digital footprint from a decade of posts, logins, and location data.
Related idea
Your digital footprint is the raw material that surveillance capitalism refines into profit, tracking behavior to predict and shape it.