Dself

Dself is a term used in discussions of digital personhood to denote an individual's aggregated digital representation across online platforms and data systems. It refers to the collection of data profiles, avatars, behavioral traces, and other digital artifacts that collectively convey the sense of a person in digital space. Unlike the embodied self, which resides in the physical body, the Dself exists as informational constructs, models, and records that can be accessed, shared, or analyzed by algorithms and organizations.

The term combines the letter D, commonly standing for digital or distributed, with self, and appears in philosophical, legal, and technical debates about identity, privacy, and governance. It is used to analyze how data subjects are represented by their online footprints and how those representations influence decisions, rights, and autonomy.

In practice, Dself is considered dynamic and context-dependent: different platforms may maintain different facets of a person, and data might be aggregated into a composite profile or a set of multiple profiles. This raises questions about consent, data portability, consent revocation, accuracy, and control over representation. In AI applications, the Dself can serve as a training or inference signal, raising concerns about bias, surveillance, and manipulation.

Critics argue that a Dself can become a separate entity from the living person, subject to governance gaps and security risks. Proposals for governance include mechanisms to view, access, edit, merge, or delete components, as well as transparent data provenance and user-centric controls.