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08-23-2017 12:03 AM
A couple of years ago, I googled this couple who I knew in the mid-60's when we all lived in NY. He wanted to marry me - but I wasn't interested so he married another female. I found their address on Googlemaps - and they live in Quincy, MA. I actually saw them in front of their house - their backs were to the camera. So Funny!!!!!! I also found them on Facebook - and saw the whole family.
08-23-2017 12:37 AM
@sunshine45 wrote:
@Scooby Doo wrote:You're lucky that there's a lot of people with your first and last name.
There is not one other person with my first and last name anywhere. I've searched.
So I can't hide amongst them.
I google my name, it shows my home address, I get a picture of my house and my cars in the driveway.. So much for an unlisted phone number.
i dont know where you live, but in our state, i can easily find out information about a property.......it is part of public records. i can see whose name is on a home and how much they pay in property taxes......and of course the homes are on google street view. you can see when a home has been sold and the history of the sale prices.
Most of the information the various sites have IS public record - that's where the info comes from. Before the internet, the same info could be found, but you'd have to go around to the various city, county and state offices to look up individual things. The websites just consolidate and make available in one place legally public information.
Not being a presence online, not filling things out, etc will no longer keep your info from being "out there." It is what it is. If you go to one of these sites and opt out, they might (or might not) remove your info. But if they do there are 10-12 or more sites that do the same thing. And even if all of them removed all your info, a private investigator, attorney, or anyone who wanted to invest the time could still get it all.
I don't give it a second thought any more. Except when someone, somewhere, online calls another person out for "hiding behind" a forum name or similar and "not having the guts" to use their real name. That never fails to crack me up.
08-23-2017 05:18 AM
i guess google is making identity theft all that more easy to pull off.
08-23-2017 05:23 AM
How true! I hate it! I don't go on Facebook or any of that stuff but it doesn't matter. Your personal information is still splattered all over the internet!!! I, out of curiousity, just typed in our street and up popped a big picture of our street and a navigation tool to browse the whole area and there was my husband out in front of our house showing one of our cars and he was working on the riding lawnmower! Plus, you can put in a person's name and find out their address, phone number, how much they paid for their home, when they bought it, taxes, the size of the home --- just about everything!
I think it is horrible and dangerous!
I do know, too, that if you are willing to pay, you can find out way more about a person!!!
08-23-2017 05:59 AM
Lots of things like tax records and court records are online now and all you need is a name and you can find out a whole lot.
08-23-2017 06:36 AM
Years ago when my friend and her husband bought their home my ex-DH asked how much it was but they were like it was some big privacy invasion so they wouldn't tell us. The information was readily available on our State's website.
Apparently drivers license numbers are all available and easy to get as well. My identity was stolen back in May. As careful as I am with my information I still have no idea how they got my social # but I know the other information they used to open that card - my birthdate, name, and address are all out there online. It sucks.
I had a Linkedin page and deleted all my past employment as sometimes those are used as identity verifiers. I don't even tell people my pets names on social media. The world today sucks but it is funny how much this supposed private info is used to verify our identity when it is all out there and any moron can find it. Don't need to be a big hacker.
08-23-2017 08:18 AM
Privacy is a thing of the past. My daughter has been seeing a wonderful man who's quite a bit older than she is. My daughter was too embarrassed to tell me just how old he is, so I googled his name. Although it's a fairly common name, I knew the town where he lived and BINGO, I found him quickly. Despite his youthful appearance, he is 14 years older than my daughter. I really don't care at this point since he makes my daughter very happy, and now my case of curiosity has been cured.
08-23-2017 10:53 AM
You can easily find out all kinds of information online now.
That's why I'm shocked when people slowly give out little bits of personal information here. There was a thread not too long ago about your hair style when you were in high school. People were giving out their year of graduation and even named the high school they went to.
If you have the town they live in, where they grew up, when they graduated, etc, you can quickly figure out who they are.
People can be so naive...
08-23-2017 11:00 AM - edited 08-23-2017 11:03 AM
One way to counteract all this - if you are so inclined - is to fill out online forms with incorrect info, i.e., using your email address but a different name......or vice versa.....or fill in forms with your name but a different address...
I don't use my real name online, anyway.....
08-23-2017 11:02 AM
@Bri36 wrote:You can easily find out all kinds of information online now.
That's why I'm shocked when people slowly give out little bits of personal information here. There was a thread not too long ago about your hair style when you were in high school. People were giving out their year of graduation and even named the high school they went to.
If you have the town they live in, where they grew up, when they graduated, etc, you can quickly figure out who they are.
People can be so naive...
@Bri36 ITA. A few posters here basically draw a map to their houses. SMH.
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