That's because, due to an unfortunate incident from way back, I've done my best to keep my PERSONAL self as anonymous as possible over the years. Because of my business self I'm pretty easy to find regardlessOriginally Posted by ChrisA Edwards
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That's because, due to an unfortunate incident from way back, I've done my best to keep my PERSONAL self as anonymous as possible over the years. Because of my business self I'm pretty easy to find regardless
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ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
FOUR - CO2 lasers
THREE- make that FOUR now
ONE - vinyl cutter
CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle
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If your name is obscure enough, a "general location" is quite unnecessary. (And yes, if my dad's genealogy research was accurate, all the others are related to me.)
Long ago (well before the internet existed), I decided that trying to hide was a fool's errand.
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
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Hiding from people who have advanced Internet skills is just about impossible, particularly Unix administrators.
Member
Are you saying that UNIX administrators should be particularly concerned? I agree. :^)
Only participate in forums that have trustworthy administrators. That rules out some large corporate entities.
FWIW, security by obscurity is no security at all. It always gets worse. Be careful out there.
Contributor
I am wondering why people think anybody gives a big, hairy rat's tukas who or where they are.
I have lived my life publicly as a newspaper columnist and editor for a long, long time, and I have never had a problem with anybody sneaking around to harm me. The difficulties came from people who clearly threatened and those threats were neutralized by authorities.
For a long time, also, I was a partner in an internet forum. Never was there any danger from that public exposure. (Sadly, the business group I was part of did not require public identification of posters. I was ignorant then, but I myself was publicly identified.)
I feel the internet sites that allow people to actually post would be better off if all posters were publicly identifiable.
I don't care who you are or where you are until you say something like "around here" in your post. Where is "here?" I'm curious. I'm not coming for you. I just want to know where you are roughly. After all, you raised the point. If you don't say where "here" is, your post is relatively meaningless. Saying, "Oak goes for $4 a board foot around here" is bullpucky. Tell me where that price is if your going to bring it up. (That is not as bad as the poster who says something like, "This shop costs me a pretty penny." For goodness sake. Just shut up about it if you don't want to say how much. What exactly is a pretty penny? Do you think the bandits will come for you if they know what "a pretty penny" is? If you are trying to tell me how rich you are, I don't care. Nobody cares.)
There are Creek posters near me and they have never hunted me down. If they did, though, they better be prepared. I'll set down a beverage of their choice in front of them and we'll laugh and grin for a while.
I decline to navigate this world in fear.
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There are Creek posters near me and they have never hunted me down. If they did, though, they better be prepared. I'll set down a beverage of their choice in front of them and we'll laugh and grin for a while.
I decline to navigate this world in fear.[/QUOTE]
Well stated Tony. It's far more likely whomever is looking to take your personal property already lives nearby then they are to track you down here. I've got to go....someone is calling about my car warranty.
Member
it’s not about fear. It’s about respecting traditional boundaries. There’s a whole lot about what’s going on right now that you don’t seem to appreciate. :^/
Contributor
Explain it to me, please.
Contributor
Most thieves are too lazy. If they can sit behind a computer screen and get you to enter sensitive data that's what they will do. But if they have to actually drive to your house and figure out where stuff is kept then they are going to be less tempted. Next is how much is theft of an issue in your area? Some people live in very rural areas where it could take an hour to drive there from where crime is a problem. When I was much younger I worked in a city and it wasn't that unusual to have people walk in off the street with used "items" they wanted to sell. It became clear that most of this stuff came from job sites and parking lots. Places where they could sneak into and out of quickly without standing out.
Try doing a google search for yourself and just your state. Unless you have a real common name you'll most likely still show up. If you're worried than what you really should do is change your name when you sign up.
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I had a friend who wasn't at all concerned who knew his address. He was a gunsmith and any work he did for law enforcement officers was no charge. His specialty was something with fine tuning trigger pressure on Glocks. So pretty much every cop in the greater Kansas City metro was his friend and had been to his house. He used to joke that if his address ever came up on 911 the street would be packed with off-duty cops.
Member
I am certainly not that internet saavy, but for my work, a certain amount of snooping was required. I can often find a person, even when cops are having trouble. Sometimes people were easy to find. One guy damaged my client's car and then told the insurance company that the accident was my client's fault. My client's car was parked and unattentended at the time. We had to file suit and the guy had been moving all over the place, even county to county. The process server couldn't find him to serve the papers. I contacted a fellow who finds such people for a living. Paid the guy $100 and 20 minutes later, I had 70 pages of information about the guy. Pictures of him, pictures of his vehicles, where he last worked, shoe size, medical records, bars where he uses credit cards, people he associates with, relatives, where his ex wives and kids reside. Family doctor, and also, where he most recently ordered items on line and had them delivered. The process server cornered the guy at a bar and served him. Turns out the guy I paid to do the search, is some computer hacker/genius hiding in Canada some where.
Contributor
The times are a changin'.
I work for a software company that does business in Europe and we've had to radically change how we handle PII (Personally Identifiable Information). We have to protect info like names/phone numbers/addresses from the public. And we have to have a way to erase every trace of it if the user requests it.
It's coming to the US. California has passed legislation that is at least as restrictive as the European Union.
I wouldn't be surprised if someday it affects Sawmill Creek.
Contributor
If someone is active on Internet, basic set of personally identifiable information is already available. Then based on country (public domain records), a lot more can be discovered if some is really inclined.
Key is to not have this information available in bulk. Most of the websites - forums & e-commerce - don't have resources or technical know-how to prevent scraping/leaking of such information from their websites.
Personally, I prefer not to provide any information that's not relevant to a website. If a website asks anything beyond name, email, city, and age I get uncomfortable. Similarly, I avoid most websites that doesn't my support PayPal or asks to set "Password Recovery Question".
Contributor
That seems like a lot of paranoia if you won't even set a password recovery question. They are only trying to protect your account. A lot of sites will no longer allow things like your mother's maiden name. i hate a lot of the security questions because I don't have answers to them. I have never been married, have never had a pet (even as a child), and no children either.
Contributor
That day is going to absolutely going to suck if the US does what Europe did. A lot of businesses are going to have to spend a LOT of money complying. A lot of software it would difficult to erase every trace of someone's data. Many websites will probably end up spending the money to develop a whole new back end to comply with the new requirements. My employer has data on customers going back a long, long time.
My employer has archives of old systems for financial and legal reasons. It would suck big time to have to go into those old systems to remove someone's data.
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