Use 1: Tools that track our location, search history, and all of our daily transactions online create digital records that can be used to identify us as a "defacto ID". This could be through your phone data, a social media profile, or even what you watch via TV streaming services – all of this recorded information is increasingly being used to identify us, or something about us. In this respect, a defacto ID is synonymous with data trails. Often we are not always aware of these defacto digital IDs or exactly how our personal data is being used.

Use 2: An information artefact (or ID) intended for one purpose but used (defacto) for another. For example, in the United States, the state issued driver’s license is often used as a "defacto" national identification artefact, even though it was not intended for this purpose. ID used beyond its original purpose could also be deemed as having "mission creep".