Originally Posted by
CanoePam
I hate to give bad news, but there is enough public information on the internet to give anyone your address and phone number whether you post the information on Craigslist or Facebook or here. If you want to check, just put your own name into Google and see what happens! That doesn't mean you shouldn't take precautions about your identity (social security number, when you're going to be away from home, etc), but you can't erase the information that is already out there. There are entire search engines that store old information and then can recall it years later even if you've "removed" it from the original site.
I just don't want people to have unrealistic expectations in today's world. Whether we like it or not, much of our lives are lived in the open
Pam
Pam you are absolutely correct in this post. We also were told by forensic computer specialist that any information once entered on the Internet is accessible. Banks and stores that have the most private information have huge teams of security specialists fighting hackers 24 hours a day 7 days a week. If you use a credit card not only on the internet, at a restaurant, local mall.... once it's scanned that magnetic strip across the back is loaded with personal information.
Have your ever stayed in a Hotel, gone on a cruise that uses card keys to access your room? The magnetic key that opens your door....all the information about you is on that magnetic strip...how you paid, what credit card is accepted, your home address, phone number etc. There are portable scanning devices that can retreive all the information from those magnetic strips and then a less than honest employee can make thousands of dollars selling that scanned information to criminal rings.
Scary is right....But how do we get around it? It's the way of life now, unless you want to go live in a cave somewhere I guess.
Our information can be retrieved through data bases that store everything and these data bases unfortunately are accessible to unscrupulous people and groups.
Google Earth takes anyone right to your front door, 3D photos of the street you live on and of your home. If your home was ever listed for sale and the pictures were posted on the Internet then those interior pictures are also accessible forever. NOTHING is private on the Internet is the bottom line.
It is the world we now live in. The warning is valid and we should all take heed. But as Pam has said, don't have unrealistic expectations that deleting information and changing information now makes you safe, because once was there is in reality still out there.
With all of this said, I refuse to be paranoid ~ careful a big YES ~ I for one have made such wonderful contact with the quilters on this forum and do communicate with them most often via email. As someone else mentioned I'm probably more concerned about the community I live in as far as someone tracking me to my front door.
Last edited by onaemtnest; 01-24-2012 at 07:16 AM.