Community Chat

[Mj12]

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@Bri36 wrote:

There are several posters who post here and on the hosts' Facebook pages.   It's not hard to figure out what their posting name is here.    I think that's dangerous.  

Some posters give out so much information about where they live.   They might as well just give out their address.    

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@Bri36 Exactly. ^

[missy1]

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@esmeraldagooch wrote:

If you have a ip address or a business name it's easy to find a physical address.

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So you are saying I go on a site, they can know exactly where I live with my IP? I am not talking just location. (I know that)  I went on a site and this company called my phone.  Where is this home address/IP  phonebooK? Is there a special program?

[Carmie]

Just Google your name.  What pops right up is your name, age, address, your family members and what party you are registered to vote under.

There is no privacy anymore.  You can even google a street in any town or city and all of your neighbor's name will show right up complete with their addresses and pictures of the houses.  You can even look up and see how much they pay in taxes. Want it know if they pay their taxes on time? Want to know what they paid for their houses and how much they owe or if they have a second or third mortgage on their house?  That is public information too.

Do you work for a government... local, state of federal? Work for a school?  Your salary is public information.

Do you have Facebook or other social account?  Pictures of you and personal info is probably out there even if you think it is private.  It is not.

Now, if you think your eye color, hair color, state you live in and your mother's first name will take away some of your privacy if you post on QVC that is funny.  Not much about you is private anymore anyway.

[dooBdoo]

           I just quickly scanned the replies and need to go back and read more carefully.     I'm so glad you started this thread, @Moonchilde !    And kudos to all who understand and support the need to keep repeating, repeating, repeating the pitfalls of all this oversharing.   Several of us have warned about this over time, only to be admonished and ridiculed.   Years ago, a poster stated that she keeps a notebook with info on fellow posters.   I agree with @noodleann  (love that nickname!😊) and others who say even when we warn posters some will continue to dismiss and mock the message and the messengers.    It's not likely to hit home with everyone, but a few will learn to be more careful and reap the rewards.    

          Not only do people provide enough info to be identified, they also provide data often used as website login info and the answers to typical security questions.    Some even repeatedly post their email address, their actual first or middle name, photos of themselves or their family, how to find their personal Facebook page, the list goes on.   An example of troublesome use of what seems to be innocent info:  there's an algorithm that was discovered several years ago which can use a person's date of birth and the state they were born in and calculate their actual social security number.

          For those who think no one would collect or use the data...  remember the remarks about the time, creativity, and effort nefarious people devote to criminal or hurtful scams and hoaxes?   We can see how they might use sites like this one.   Yet the same posters who complain about criminal activity via telemarketing, email phishing, or internet hacks offer up too much personal data about themselves and their loved ones here and probably elsewhere, too.

          The bottom line, and we need to keep repeating it:  cumulative data on an anonymous poster transforms them not only into a specific person, but also creates a profile of how to access and hack their internet accounts.

[dooBdoo]

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SoX wrote:

I learned early on to never  respond to, or participate in  these types of threads.  It used to be even worse some years back ... before the old board was replaced with this one.  

We saw posters go after other posters with information they "culled" ...  just from seemingly innocent responses. 

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          Hi, @SoX!     Long time no see!    Many of us saw things that happened over the years and won't easily forget.    I think posters forget that they don't really know who or what is behind that nickname...   there have been some worrisome obsessions, grudges, and (thinking of a recent thread) "personal vendettas."

[dooBdoo]

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esmeraldagooch wrote:

I thought the same thing last week with the What is your mothers name thread.  Many times people are asked some of the questions on your list as secret words to keep your interent accounts secure.

Another forum here also has had threads about how to store your jewelry.  Oh yes, I have a  Lori Granier mirror jewelry case filled with XYZ and Colleen Lopez jewelry keepers stacked in my closet....

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          @esmeraldagooch,  That reminds me of the people on social media who have what's been called the "please-rob-me syndrome."    They post pix of valuables, all sorts of images of their dwellings (complete with entryways), and then tell everyone when they're home/not home.    I recall reading that some insurance providers are actually looking at social media if someone is burglarized, because it's a huge liability for a customer to tell the world not only what you have but how to steal it.

[Moonchilde]

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@Carmie wrote:

Just Google your name.  What pops right up is your name, age, address, your family members and what party you are registered to vote under.

There is no privacy anymore.  You can even google a street in any town or city and all of your neighbor's name will show right up complete with their addresses and pictures of the houses.  You can even look up and see how much they pay in taxes. Want it know if they pay their taxes on time? Want to know what they paid for their houses and how much they owe or if they have a second or third mortgage on their house?  That is public information too.

Do you work for a government... local, state of federal? Work for a school?  Your salary is public information.

Do you have Facebook or other social account?  Pictures of you and personal info is probably out there even if you think it is private.  It is not.

Now, if you think your eye color, hair color, state you live in and your mother's first name will take away some of your privacy if you post on QVC that is funny.  Not much about you is private anymore anyway.

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I assume that anyone under 50-55 knows there is no privacy any more - or should. All of what you mention in your first two paragraphs being public information, it has always been available, long pre-internet. You just had to travel more places to gather it. The internet hasn't "suddenly revealed" public info that was previously private or "invaded" privacy, it's just made it easier to get in one place.

There is NO photograph of me that I have found on searching multiple upon multiple google pages - either as "me" OR any alter egoes. They're just not there. And I've had an internet presence for decades. 

[dooBdoo]

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deepwaterdotter wrote:

Call me paranoid, but I am suspect of those who start threads asking for the types of info mentioned in the OP.  Good thread Moonchilde.

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          In all fairness, I think some of the posters -- especially those who have been here a while -- do it innocently, but probably will rethink it if they see this discussion.    So, I don't want to accuse anyone...  but I do think a good dose of paranoia is healthy in this situation.

[chickenbutt]

So far, when I Google my name, nothing comes up about me.  Amazing, though, how, no matter how unusual your name is, there are always a bunch more of them.   Fortunately, none of the ones I saw were me and it was easy to tell that they were other people from other places with husbands who have different first names than mine.

I've looked over the years and was glad to see, just now, that I'm still not that visible.  But I dumped the facebook account years ago, don't do twitter or any other social media, and am just not somebody who has to be massively connected.

While I do share to some degree, I'm a pretty private person.  I can only think of two posters here (who are still here) who even know my name.  I trust both of them, so it doesn't trouble me at all.

[RoughDraft]

Admittedly, googling your own name does/can bring up certain data in the information age we all live in.

However, the difference is if you are checking your own name, obviously you know who you are.  On an anonymous forum, the majority of us do not post our real names, so anyone phishing for our info has to work a lot harder to garner our stats.  This is why I never answer the posts asking for anything from my eye/hair color, mother's or father's first name, anything regarding my credit cards, banking habits, etc.