If you put your personal information on a public place on the internet . . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

. . . do you forgo your right to an expectation of privacy?

For example, if I posted on DU with my real name, do I have any right to expect privacy?

If I use my real name on Facebook or MySpace or dating websites or a hobby site (model trains, windmill tilting, cow tipping, coin collecting) do I have any right to expect that information to be protected by casual internet surfers who come across it?

Similarly, do people who find such data have any obligation to protect it?

What about people who intentionally snoop? People who collect metadata from pictures you might post of your house on a real estate site, your car in an online classified, yourself on a dating site, thinking they're anonymous? Is there any obligation for others to keep this confidential?

[Dappleganger]

1. Prospective employers quite often do a simple google search.

You'd be shocked or amazed as to what pops up. You can also be mixed up with other people who have the same name and be open to false accusations as well.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. I am fully aware of that.

I long ago got past being shocked. :)

As a matter of fact, we use it to look into clients before we accept them. We think we're an excellent service provider. We only want to work with the best clients. We've fired a few over the years. Now we do our homework beforehand and we've not been burned in years.

[MadHound]

2. Expectations aside,

You might as well consider any information, public or private, that you put on the internet to be the same as being shouted in the street. Even the personal information you give to sites such as DU, though supposedly kept private, can be hacked into with relative ease. This isn't the fault of the admins of this or other sites, it is the simple reality of the technology.

There are no reasonable expectations of privacy on the internet, which is why I tend to shy away from places such as Facebook, etc.

Use at your own peril.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. I never Cease being amazed at how people volunteer so much so willingly

One of children chronicles life's daily doings in far too much detail. Siblings know far more than they ought to. As the parents, we learned much we never wanted to know and to the child's discontent, much that we needed to know.

It's all there for the world to see.

Worst are the dating sites. That's where information you don't want to know is readily a available.

[Buzz Clik]

3. If you shower in front of an open window, have you given up the right to privacy?

Can you be legitimately annoyed when one of your neighbors watches you shower when you have taken steps to remove anything resembling privacy?

When you let it all hang out on Facebook or DU, you are very susceptible to giving away all aspects of privacy. You might have some legal recourses against some invasions of privacy, but is it worth it?

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I'm not sure it is even possible to "invade privacy" when some voluntarily . . .

. . . . divulges personal information or, stupider yet, leaves a trail in orange dayglo breadcrumbs.

[MineralMan]

4. If you put your information on the Internet,

it's pretty much fair game, I think. Reasonable people will not use such information they find, but others might. If you want to be anonymous, it's very hard to do so if you're active on the Internet. You can try, but you won't probably succeed if someone wants to find out stuff about you. I gave up years ago. I just make it easy for people to find me, if they want to. They can anyhow. Anyone who wants to find me on the internet can simply visit my profile here or on other sites where I participate. As I said, I gave up the myth of anonymity.

[MineralMan]

6. To expand a little, I think it's morally reprehensible to search for

information on individuals who are not public figures, using high-tech stuff like tags inside image files and the like. That's especially true if your plans include passing that information on to others. It might not be illegal, but it's still wrong.

On another note, I've had the experience of someone hunting for stuff about me by looking for my screen name here. I use, or have used, the same screen name in several places. However, there are several other people also using that screen name. In at least one case, that led to a person who is not me being harassed by someone by mistake. Not everyone is careful with information, even with incorrect information. That's a risk if you start hunting around for information online about someone.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Zorra]

5. Once you volunteer the info, anything goes.

As a privacy advocate, I never post any personal information on the internet as a matter of principle.

The fact that it could cause me and my family harm is right up there as a reason too..

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Some in my family chide me for no facebook or myspace

I'll stay away, thanks.

[pecwae]

8. No one should expect

privacy on the Internet. If you put on your personal and private information on a social site of any kind where there's unrestricted access it's up for grabs. People will do just that then act amazed when they find that someone has posted their stats elsewhere. If you've put it there yourself don't go ballistic when someone uses a weapon against you that you yourself have provided them.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Kids do it all the time. I find that frightening.

Grownups should know better. But they don't. I have done it right here on DU a few times. My only hope is that after 40K+ posts, my few lapses are easy to miss.

To my way of thinking, the unregulated, free dating sites are the worst. Lots of pathos and lots of personal info. Lots of childish and squicky behavior there.

[pecwae]

22. You raise a very valid concern

about kids. I don't have any at home and didn't think about it. Depending on their age they can't be expected to see the dark side of chatting with new friends online. I fervently hope someone they trust and admire is giving them guidance in this area.

[slackmaster]

9. The safe assumption is that everything you post on the Internet will be visible to everyone forever

A rule to live by.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. Forever

Yup. Wise words, indeed.

:hi:

[Gormy Cuss]

16. It should not be considered unreasonable to expect that info posted for one purpose isn't used

without your permission for a very different purpose. However, we have such weak privacy laws that we should always expect that any and everything posted by us or about us will be used by some unscrupulous data miner. Most do it for profit, some do it for kicks.

It' not a good idea to select a username that includes any part of your IRL name, nor is it a good idea to create a username identity that you carry from site to site, unless you like enabling stalkers and other data miners. Lack of privacy laws fuel the use and misuse of data never meant to be aggregated.

There's also the issue of the difference between anonymous and confidential information. The former is much harder to protect. Confidentiality can easily be addressed by strong privacy laws.


Did I mention we need real privacy laws? :P

[Stinky The Clown]

19. That's a real part of the problem. Laws have not kept apace of technology

Technology has also surpassed our ability to understand or appreciate the danger in which it can put us.

That photo metadata, for example. I had NO idea it even existed until maybe a year or so ago. That's frightening for people who post family pictures on their MySpace or Facebook.

Once a picture is out there, it is very difficult to pull it back

[MineralMan]

21. Yes, but...and this is a big deal...if you only put on the Internet

things you really stand behind, and would say in any public place, it's very, very unlikely that people will bother you. I'm fairly obnoxious sometimes, in the opinion of some, but only on a very few occasions has anyone bothered to harass me. In all but one of those, an "Oh, really? Are you sure you want to be doing this?" response ended the problem.

So, I stopped attempting to be anonymous. What that did was to make me more aware of my Internet presence and more concerned about what I was saying there. While I still piss off some people, I haven't been personally harassed for several years. The key, I think, is in not saying anything you wouldn't say if you were standing in front of a microphone in front of a public audience. If you look at it that way, the likelihood of any serious backwash is very minimal.

I'm not anonymous. I never was, but I used to think I was. That ended several years ago, when I learned just how easy it is for someone to spend a couple of hours and find out who I was. So, I just quit, and added my personal website and other information to the sites I post on. Once I did that, the nonsense just plain stopped. Nobody bothered me. I didn't get the middle of the night hangup calls or annoying emails. It just stopped. Of course, I altered my tone a little, but not much.

What I finally realized is that there's no good reason to attempt to remain anonymous. Why bother? The things I write online are the same things I would say to anyone, so why should I bother to try to hide my identity?

[Shandris]

17. I think you forego your right to privacy until the last question and...

...the set of data you reference. Posting intentionally your name, address, phone number, etc are all conscious decisions being made that you KNOW are private data. Collecting 'metadata', especially EXIF data, is something that many people do not realize are attached to their photos and so on. There should be an obligation to protect it, yes. Perhaps even a site-controlled image sanitizer before something is uploaded and published, with a possible opt-out just in case someone, somewhere actually wanted their metadata attached to a pic.

[Duer 157099]

18. You know how at the pharmacy, there's that line on the floor

and people waiting in line are instructed to stay behind that line, for the sake of the privacy of those at the counter?

As if those 3 feet of space don't carry sound.

Yeah, it's like that.

[catenary]

20. If you use your real name, the concept of privacy is meaningless.

:eyes:

[WinkyDink]

23. "I'm going to identify myself, but I don't want to be identified." ?????

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Yes, there are some who seem to think they can caterwaul about privacy violations . . .

. . . . while freely identifying themselves elsewhere - and using the same name everywhere.

Chutzpah mixed with ignorance with a side of arrogance is a devil's brew.