Jill
Reged: Jun 22 2006
Posts: 132
Loc: Irons, MI, US
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Recently the topic of anonymity has come up and I'd like to discuss it here. It's pretty easy to remain anonymous online or to even create an entirely different persona. It's also easy to give away identifying information if you're not actively trying not to.
For example, if I'm in a discussion about skiing and mention the name of the very small ski area where I patrol that can easily lead to someone knowing my full name, my address, seeing a photo and who knows what else. I almost always use my first name online and I'm the only Jill who works at that ski area. It wouldn't be too hard to take that and expand on it if someone had the inclination to do so, even with as little information as my first name and the ski area I volunteer for.
So, how do you protect your privacy when you're online? What information are you comfortable giving out and what information do you never share? Do you have any hard and fast limits that you stick to or are there different rules for different situations? Do you have any concerns about your privacy or anonymity?
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Maggie
Reged: Sep 03 2007
Posts: 1
Loc: Canada
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I'm usually someone who is rather careful with privacy online, I'm someone who rather concerned by that. I guess having two parents constantly warning me against the danger of Internet per anonymity/privacy doesn't really help much.
So I really don't share much online with people I don't know. I sometimes share my real name as well as the country I live in, sometimes I might share the province I live in too (but more rarely) but I generally don't go any farther than this. I almost never state the school I go to and the city I live in. I never never share my home address or phone number. I also don't share my picture except with people I've gotten to know very well or that I've got a feeling are okay -- I usually go with my guts on that-- even though I know everyone can pretend to be anyone they want on the Internet.
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Charlotta
AGA Blogger
Reged: Jun 25 2006
Posts: 82
Loc: New York
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I'm more open than I would like to be online, but I don't know how to contain it since much of the content is outside of my control. That being said, on public forums, I never share more than fairly common characteristics (college student at liberal arts college, etc) that can be attributed to many, and I never use my real name (except on AGA). I think it's something we definitely have to be aware of though, and I hope that more people will chime in with their thoughts on this issue.
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small hands can still shatter glass.
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Beppie
Reged: Jun 22 2006
Posts: 362
Loc: Sydney, Australia
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Honestly, I don't take any precautions. Sometimes I worry about the wisdom of that-- it'd be incredibly easy for anyone to track me down. I don't reveal things that would violate the privacy of others, and there are some personal things that I don't talk about publicly online, in the same way that I wouldn't talk about them to people I encounter in my day to day life.
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Brooke
AGA Blogger
Reged: Jun 23 2006
Posts: 466
Loc: Pennsylvania
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I wasn't very worried about what kind of information was about me online until someone from my past claimed to have gotten hold of my phone number and my address and threaten to show up at my house and said he was also looking up information on my daughter. I'm not really concerned about anyone just showing up at my house and attacking me because every place we have lived we had roommates who were home during the day and now we have a next door neighbor that runs an at home daycare (we live in a townhouse, so like a foot away) but it made me become more careful about what kind of information I post online. I don't post my daughter's full first name anywhere that can be searched with google and I don't put her picture any where like myspace, livejournal etc. The only place I have pictures of her is a mom website that is completely private and most of the groups can only be seen if your a member. I also don't post which town I actually live in on most websites.
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