When you get locked up, your digital presence is the total sum of your activity on social media, and its footprints continue stepping without you. Why is protecting a digital presence uniquely critical for someone with a criminal record? I’m not due for release until 2030, but my digital footprint caught up with me back in the mid-2000s. Anticipating that his digital footprint would create potential social and economic obstacles for him, Paul changed his last name. In the end, our digital presence isn’t etched in concrete; it’s an ever-evolving story.