How Privacy vanishes online

[Grumpy]

Come on Tim, if you really believe that I have some sea shore land in Arizone you may want to look at.

Grumpy

[Tim_T]

Come on Tim, if you really believe that I have some sea shore land in Arizone you may want to look at.

Grumpy

Grumpy, you can believe what you want, because some people enjoy a good conspiracy, I am going by what has happened with me in the 2 years I have been on there. The difference is, I go by experience, and you go by some NYT article. Believe what you want and I will go with what has happened. No tin foil hats for me.

[Grumpy]

Tim, I have no idea what NYT or tin foil hats are but I have no doubt that if hackers and/or identity thieves can get into top secret government files, banking files, international agency files, and on and on, they can get into your file on Facebook very easily if they want to. Also, have you never been on a cite, like Amazon and have a popup try to refer you to a shopping area in your own town? It is amazing how they can track you and identify you through your IP address. I was also amazed a while back when I called my Internet Provider about a problem and the Tech could tell from his computer exactly what was and was not working on my modem and internet connection. There is no such thing as PRIVACY on the internet.

Grumpy

[Arauthator]

Chris Waggoner
Hyatt Martin Road (812) 923-8504
Greenville, Indiana 47124

Christian. Avid Bass Fisherman. Family Man. Leaves his home all the time to go camping and fishing. NASCAR trips too. Loves Slim Jims, Mt. Dew, Veggie Gardens and watching my girls play in the back yard. Bad Jokes, Opinions, and Sports are ABSOLUTELY hilarious to me.

Look me up in the Phone Book !

For cryin' out loud guys! God Bless ya'. Ain't nuthin' changed since the telephone book was created !
LOL.


Got a song for EVERYBODY who buys into that paranoid schtuff. REads THEM their lyrics now.

Well Granddaddy was a hillbilly, scholar blue collar of a man
He came from the school where you didn't need nothing
if you could Make it with your own two hands
He was backwoods, backwards, used words like no sir, yes ma'am,
by God be darned, hell yeah I'm American!
And all the years he walked this Earth, I swear all he did was work
He said the devil dreams on an idle horse, so you listen to me squirt!
Don't get too high on the bottle and get right with the Man
Fight your fights, find the grace in all the things that you can't change
And help somebody, if you can
Now Granny said son, I'd stick to your gun and said,
if you believe in something no matter what
Cause its better to be hated for who you are than beloved for who you're not
She was 5 feet of concrete, New York born and raised on the slick city street
She'd cold stare you down, stand her ground, still kickin' and screamin' at 93
I remember just how frail she looked in that hospital bed,
taking her last few breaths of life, smilin' as she said
Don't get too high on the bottle, just a little sip every now and then
Fight your fights, find the grace, in all the things that you can't change
And help somebody if you can
And get right with the Man
I never let a cowboy make the coffee
Yeah, that's what granny always said to my Granddad
And he'd say, never tell a joke that ain't that funny more than once
And if you wanna hear God laugh, tell him your plans
Don't get too high on the bottle
Get right with the Man, son
Fight your fights, find the grace in all the things that you can't change
And help somebody if you can
And get right with the Man

[Tim_T]

Tim, I have no idea what NYT or tin foil hats are but I have no doubt that if hackers and/or identity thieves can get into top secret government files, banking files, international agency files, and on and on, they can get into your file on Facebook very easily if they want to. Also, have you never been on a cite, like Amazon and have a popup try to refer you to a shopping area in your own town? It is amazing how they can track you and identify you through your IP address. I was also amazed a while back when I called my Internet Provider about a problem and the Tech could tell from his computer exactly what was and was not working on my modem and internet connection. There is no such thing as PRIVACY on the internet.

Grumpy

NYT is New York Times, that was where the original article came from. Okay, so someone hacks into my facebook account, exactly what are they going to get? No credit card info on there, no bank account info on there. No address or phone number on there. No private information on there, so exactly what will somebody gain by going through the trouble of hacking my facebook account?

[HURRICANEBOB]

The lack of privacy on the internet is exactly why I don't surf the web nude anymore.

I mean, I always have my Norton's on.

[RoadToad]

To you guys who are dismissing this idea as ridiculous, and talking about how people can't hack into your accounts, did you even visit the link Peter posted, and read the article? It has nothing to do with someone "hacking into your account." That's what makes it so insidious. These people don't need to "hack into" anything at all, they just use the information that's publicly available to figure out some very personal information, stuff that you would never knowingly share with strangers. A good example is this very forum. Geofisher has never (as far as I know) posted the name of the company he and I both work for, but someone ELSE did once, so now anybody who's been paying attention (ie an identity thief) knows who our employer is. Others have posted similar info about themselves, or about someone else on the board. That in itself is not enough to do any real damage, and probably no single piece of info someone might get from a Facebook or Twitter account would either, but when you take it all together, it could add up to some stranger knowing way more about you than you would want them to, simply because they pieced together a whole bunch of individual facts, which by themselves seem trivial.

[RoadToad]

To you guys who are dismissing this idea as ridiculous, and talking about how people can't hack into your accounts, did you even visit the link Peter posted, and read the article?

I guess that sounds kind of strong. What I was trying to say was just that it's not the security of social networking sites that is the issue. What the author was pointing out was how much personal info can be gleaned from what a person posts on those sites, even if they don't post the information directly. To me, this is the scariest part (emphasis mine):

"Even more unnerving to privacy advocates is the work of two researchers from Carnegie Mellon University. In a paper published last year, Alessandro Acquisti and Ralph Gross reported that they could accurately predict the full, nine-digit Social Security numbers for 8.5 percent of the people born in the United States between 1989 and 2003 — nearly five million individuals.
Social Security numbers are prized by identity thieves because they are used both as identifiers and to authenticate banking, credit card and other transactions.
The Carnegie Mellon researchers used publicly available information from many sources, including profiles on social networks, to narrow their search for two pieces of data crucial to identifying people — birthdates and city or state of birth.
That helped them figure out the first three digits of each Social Security number, which the government had assigned by location. The remaining six digits had been assigned through methods the government didn’t disclose, although they were related to when the person applied for the number. The researchers used projections about those applications as well as other public data, like the Social Security numbers of dead people, and then ran repeated cycles of statistical correlation and inference to partly re-engineer the government’s number-assignment system."

I assume these researchers are honest, but if they can do it, then so can the crooks. So if you've ever wished someone a happy birthday online, or posted information about your own (both of which I admint I have done), then you may have just given aid to an identity thief.

[HURRICANEBOB]

Yep, privacy is a real concern. No argument hear. I'd submit to you that freedom of information and public record websites probably do far more to help identy theft then we'd all like to recognize. Try it. Example, hit a county PVA office website, and see if they have a records search engine. You can pull a persons deed, his title for his home, his records of divorce or marriage in the county, records of liens on property. Try it sometime, you'd be surprised.

And ya know who is your worst enemy.....yourself...Like making comments like "and nobody ever said we work in the same office but we do". Cha-ching...thanks...loose lips,,,,,,sinking ships.

[Arauthator]

Paranoia is against walking with God. If you LIKE to sin. Have at it. But God want's you to be happy, the devil wants you to be scared and paranoid. It's in the Bible. Once again, worldly possessions are temporary. To include family, money, possessions, and jobs.

When the storm hits ya though, don't forget what I said above.
Don't tell God how big your storm is, tell the storm how big your God is.

Walk with God and you WILL rise above this kind of evil.

I'll even give you an example. I was once crooked for 3 grand over the internet. Then, 2 weeks later after accepting what I was holding on to was worldly possessions, and forgave the crook, a stranger showed up at my door and paid 3 grand for an antique tractor I was given for free. I had to first recognize that GOD was watching me. I then got back the money I lost. God's work is NOT to be questioned. You could condemn your soul to hell for an eternity for doing so.

Yep, privacy is a real concern. No argument hear. I'd submit to you that freedom of information and public record websites probably do far more to help identy theft then we'd all like to recognize. Try it. Example, hit a county PVA office website, and see if they have a records search engine. You can pull a persons deed, his title for his home, his records of divorce or marriage in the county, records of liens on property. Try it sometime, you'd be surprised.

And ya know who is your worst enemy.....yourself...Like making comments like "and nobody ever said we work in the same office but we do". Cha-ching...thanks...loose lips,,,,,,sinking ships.

[HURRICANEBOB]

Well alrighty then, thanks for the opportunity to comment:

1. If you LIKE to sin. Have at it.
Answer: Thank-you for the approval, I'll get started on it Monday as soon as the wife leaves for work.

2. Once again, worldly possessions are temporary. To include family, money, possessions, and jobs.
Answer: Ah...you forgot one. LIFE. Nobody gets out of it alive.

3. When the storm hits ya though.....
Answer: You do realize you responded to HURRICANE BOB.....right? This is the reason I have 6 lightening rods on my boat. (Well, I use them as fishing rods too).

4. God's work is NOT to be questioned. You could condemn your soul to hell for an eternity for doing so.
Answer: Wow, now you tell me? Where were you when I needed you in that bar in Philadelphia the night I taught the Pagan biker how to use a pool cue stick as a Qtip? Thanks, but a little late. Besides, I was in "HE#####, but I'm retired now. Couldn't take the heat.

Hey, great talking to you, but got to run. I don't have any lightening rods on the house and the sky is getting dark outside.

[Arauthator]

That's some pretty funny schtuff there Bob. Hope you have a good week. Just to let ya' know. I like humor as well.....I know it looks like I'm a holy roller, but people who REALLY know me off this website know better. However, I do take the opportunity to spread the word of God when I can. It's not up to me if a person takes the advice or not. That is between that person and God.