Your data is extremely valuable, and your data privacy matters. Websites track your every click, pharmaceutical companies sell the details of your eating habits to your health insurance provider, and retail companies sell you baby bottles even before your parents know you’re expecting. Yet we give away our data for free. Even the fictional, nightmarish scenarios of shows like Black Mirror can become a reality with emerging new technologies that enable profiling and its many accompanying dangers. Data Aeternum is a data privacy guide that seeks to educate and empower users to reduce their data footprint while bridging readers’ perceptions and the reality of the dangers of data collection. It is designed for both an at-risk audience of young adults who are unaware of data privacy–related dangers as well technology-illiterate adults and seniors who might be unfamiliar with data threats. The project consists of a website and an interactive handbook. The website is a self-contained resource offering users with an essential context for understanding data privacy as well as actionable steps for reducing one’s data footprint. The interactive book further builds upon the website, providing additional information needed to understand the complex topic of data privacy and resources for demanding data oversight.

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