You and your shadow

EMC Corp. and market research firm IDC have released what they are
calling a digital footprint calculator that lets users track the amount of
information they are adding to the digital universe.

In 2007, the digital universe contained
281 billion gigabytes of information or
45 gigabytes per person.

Individuals create only about half of that information, according to
EMC and IDC. The rest comprises items such as digital images from surveillance
cameras, bank records and retail, airline, telephone and medical
databases.

The amount of information in the digital universe is growing
rapidly and is expected to reach 1.8 trillion gigabytes by 2011.