Privacy Concerns?

[Titanium Dome]

I've pulled these two posts to use as a springboard to discuss an issue I am sure many of us have given some thought to recently...

Widget

For those of us who appreciate this stuff vicariously, would you mind describing your current signal chain in some detail?


Widget

Including your home address, the code to your burglar alarm system, and your home's floor plan? I like to appreciate stuff vicariously in person... if you know what I mean.

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Note to cops, TSA, Homeland Security, FBI, CIA, sheriff's departments, private security, alarm companies, Google data aggregators/tattletales, and other Herberts: it's a friggin' joke. Get it?

[timc]

Note to cops, TSA, Homeland Security, FBI, CIA, sheriff's departments, private security, alarm companies, Google data aggregators/tattletales, and other Herberts: it's a friggin' joke. Get it?


Priceless!

Is it in response two the reaction towards the two swedes who made joke on Twitter?

And btw, you forgot NSA.

[Mr. Widget]

Not long ago we were having issues with a couple of Forum members who under the cloak of internet anonymity were making inappropriate posts and insulting other members. We moderators briefly discussed changing the policy about our membership avatar names, possibly requiring members to use their real names. Ultimately we decided for privacy's sake not to.

In all seriousness regarding TiDome's post above, I remember having a conversation with Zilch... he was concerned about people learning of his address as he had quite a valuable vintage JBL collection and as an older man living alone he was concerned for his safety. Initially I thought he was being paranoid, but after thinking about it, I decided he was actually being prudent.

Currently, if you type in the full name and city of most of us, Google will readily supply you with a clear photo of the front of your house... Facebook has been amassing private and intimate info about it's members for years now and now that Facebook is moving towards their IPO, Google is feeling left behind and is changing their privacy agreement to allow them to accumulate our private info from our e-mails and everything else that we use that Google touches... even e-mails that use our own private servers that are sent to or from any Android devices. Shouldn't we be concerned? I am not sure what we can do... participating on public forums is one thing but the mass of data that is being harvested and classified about each of us is unnerving.


Widget

[spkrman57]

I tend to avoid threads when I find O/T and rude statements being made.

Just my 2 cents worth of course!

Regards, Ron

[Titanium Dome]

Widget

I think you see the real villains embedded in my disclaimer, including Google and other tattletales, which would include AT&T, Verizon, AOL, Cox, Time Warner, Bank of America, and really any business that keeps detailed records about us and can't protect that information because

1) they can't secure it and people who shouldn't have access to it, find it easy to get; or

2) they willingly surrender it to other companies in return for money; or

3) they willingly provide it to all sorts of federal agencies under the mandate of Homeland Security, terrorism watch lists, or Patriot Act overreaching.

I could launch into a very long diatribe about each of these, but it will be exceedingly political in the end, and we've pledged to avoid that. Everyone got the Herbert reference, right?

Member "vivaregina" is no dummy, and he's not going to post the information I teased him to post. He knows I'm simply envious and making a joke. I think everyone here knows that there are people at every level of law enforcement and government who dredge communications every second of the day looking for people to identify as criminal, politically aberrant, radical, reactionary, or terrorist. The words in this post, such as Homeland Security, terrorism, Patriot Act, villain, criminal, radical, federal agencies, AT&T, Bank of America, secure, and surrender will all trigger some algorithm in some security program. It may or may not be enough to raise it to an awareness level by itself, but if the moniker "Titanium Dome" is linked to enough of these minor alarms, soon the person of interest Titanium Dome will be in some lower level intelligence officers' caseload.

I know your focus is on personal privacy, people finding out where we live, and thieves stealing our stuff or doing us harm, but frankly, unless we stupidly put all this info out there in an easy-to-assemble way, I'm far more concerned about the people who are supposed to be obeying the laws and protecting us than I am these other folks. Enemies and criminals are more likely to get the info they need from those records in my experience, and you have to remember the kind of work I do to appreciate that statement.

[pathfindermwd]

The internet just makes people feel as if they are a bigger target because more people know about their stuff, but conversely the criminals then also know more about other people's stuff that is nicer than yours. Fortunately for us, JBL's tend to be big and heavy, and few people want to handle them, unlike say Bose. Speakers just do not warrant much money per pound of effort in the criminal world, unless it's a stupid criminal. Think about it... Is some guy going to bring a van over to my house in the middle of the night and steal my speakers? He'll need a helper, now his labor has doubled. Supposing I had a gun, could he get away with it before he got shot? So, he will have to dispose of me first...... for my stereo equipment? They better be careful too because their value is directly related to their condition. Can't just toss them into the back of a pick-up and speed off, these criminals would have to be careful packers with moving blankets.

I thought Titanium Domes post and signature was hilarious! Maybe breaking and entering isn't funny, but maybe nothing is anymore... It's sad.

The fact is that most of the things we worry about never happen. Security is largely a state of mind, and at any cost there is no guarantee. I say do what you can but a lock only keeps out honest people.

If I had to think like a criminal for a moment I suppose that I would predict that in general the amount of posts one has next to their name would indicate the amount of gear they had accumulated, all direct expressions of said possessions aside. Now everyone is looking... That, and the fact that our general locations are also known; I suppose we could be more anonymous.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
-Helen Keller

[Robh3606]

Privacy has always been a concern of mine. I am on several forums with the same screen name and it's a hoot to just google your screen name to see what comes up. I have found posts on forums I forgot I posted at LOL. I try to put up as little as I can in my profiles but in casual conversation it hard sometimes not to reveal things about yourself. I am not on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media. Looking at Facebook pages it's just plain amazing what many are comfortable puting up on the net. Once google gets it's forever. Maps Google is the same thing, street view and birdseye are downright scary. All you have to do too check out someones yard is google it!!

Rob

[Guy in WNY]

There is a block party site, you put in your address and it shows you the names, phone numbers, etc, of ALL the people on the streets surrounding your house. You can click a link to have your information removed.
But that stuff is for sure out there.

[tomt]

Speakers just do not warrant much money per pound of effort in the criminal world, unless it's a stupid criminal. Think about it... Is some guy going to bring a van over to my house in the middle of the night and steal my speakers? He'll need a helper, now his labor has doubled.

and 'they' arn't likely to ride away on a 98 year old motorcycle

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/...-estates-home/

have to be large $ items

[pathfindermwd]

and 'they' arn't likely to ride away on a 98 year old motorcycle

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/...-estates-home/

have to be large $ items

1.5 million! I wonder how they'll unload such a unique item. Luckily no one was hurt. At the amount the bikes were valued at, combined with the fact that no one was hurt, one wonders if it could have been an insurance scam.

A question I have is does the Internet create more criminals? Not in the scamming sense, but rather the burglary sense? Are our homes less safe because of it? Has it caused the crime rate to go up?

[dr_gallup]

1.5 million! I wonder how they'll unload such a unique item. Luckily no one was hurt. At the amount the bikes were valued at, combined with the fact that no one was hurt, one wonders if it could have been an insurance scam.

A question I have is does the Internet create more criminals? Not in the scamming sense, but rather the burglary sense? Are our homes less safe because of it? Has it caused the crime rate to go up?

According to the FBI statistics all major crime has been declining for quite a few years. The "experts" were predicting it to go up during the recession but it continued down. Nobody really knows why.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr...tables/table-3

[10 Watt Street]

A controversial theory on decrease in crime:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legaliz...d_crime_effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imp...rtion_on_Crime

[Lee in Montreal]

^^^^Are you serious?

[Rolf]

So I guess I am "stupid" to reveal my name and address? to the members of this forum? I have some names and addresses of members here, but not in my dreams I will visit them for bad invitations. But that's me. I am an honest person, don't want to harm anybody. The only way I will visit is if I am invited.

[Robh3606]

Well here you go Rolf. Everyone has there comfort zone.

http://www.intelius.com/people-search.html?pcode=AUXHSB

Fill in the blanks and see how much of your personal information someone can buy for $40. Keep in mind you won't even know who's doing it or why. I for one thinks it's a complete invasion of anyones privacy that a site like that exists. It doesn't matter that it's all public records. It's the ease of access and sheer volume of information that's troubling.

Rob