Did you know that photo you took with your phone can reveal the exact location of where it was taken? And every time you fill in a profile, blog, share a video, send a tweet, or post a comment, you create a digital footprint that’s both permanent and potentially public. What you say and share gives people an idea of what you are like as a person. 

“In the digital realm, we are naked all the time.” Based on that idea, designers Xuedi Chen and Pedro G. C. Oliveira have created a 3D printed dress that reflects the amount of personal info its wearer shares online; the more data that’s shared, the more transparent it would become.

Made of a personalized mesh, the dress works with a mobile app; automatically collecting geolocation data. This set of data is then transmitted to the dress and its 20 hand-cut reactive displays via Bluetooth. From there, the dress reflects the amount of shared information accordingly.

“These displays are divided up into patches that represent neighbourhoods and change in opacity depending on the wearer’s current location. If she is in the NYU neighbourhood, that area will be the most active, pulsing, revealing her current location, revealing the fact that her data is being collected and at the same time exposing her skin. As her data emissions are collected, the more transparent and exposed she will become,” the artists explained.

In instances where you share personal info, a simple search could easily help someone piece together a composite profile of you. Potential employers do scout around for such online information to get a sense of whether a candidate is suitable. Predators can also use the information to get close to you. Criminals can even use the data to target you for scams, or to steal your identity to commit other crimes.

Learn about the privacy controls on your favourite websites and use them. Once you put something online, it’s impossible to take it back. Images, text and videos can be copied and reposted over and over without you knowing. So even if just your friends can see what you post, that content could end up anywhere on the Web.

You can watch the 3D printed dress in action by watching on the video below. Or find out more by clicking here.

The designers were trying to make a statement with the dress: by participating in this hyper-connected society, you have little-to-no control of our digital data production. Do you know how much of yourself that you unknowingly reveal?

Source: http://www.digitalmeetsculture.net/article/dress-becomes-increasingly-transparent-as-its-wearer-share-personal-data-online/