Privacy=a false sense of security, like a locked door

About 25 years ago, I ran around with some kids that I only knew for about a year.

Their parents divorced and afew months later, they disappeared into the country. Being kids, we didnt think of keeping in touch.

Over the weekend, I got on the internet to see if I could track them down. What I found was amazing.

They dont have much of an internet finger print so I had to really dig to find anything. And dig I did. After about twelve hours, I found out plenty.

Without paying a penny, I was able to determine their dad's last three addresses, the names of his three wives (including their maiden names).

I got his three dates of marriage and two dates of divorce. I found out where his sons live and figured out the name of one of their wives.

I was able to go up and down their family tree and with maiden names, up and down the ex-wives family trees as well.

For anywhere from $10.00 a month to $35.00 a year, I can subscribe to various services that will provide me even more access.

But without that subscription service, I was to able to figure out the schools they attended, the hospitals they were born in, and the communities they lived in.

Amazing. In a very scarey kind of way.

I have a question, how much of that information did you manage to gather from things like forums, blogs, and personal sites? I ask because I previously wrote an article for a computer security site about the dangers of such things and I'm interested to see what sources typically yeild the most information, possibly for a rewrite and revision of the article.

alternateheaven,

To be honest, 0% (zero) came from forums, blogs, et al.

Up and down the family tree, no relatives or step relatives of the "boys" and their dad were found as volunteered information.

100% of the information I found is, I assume, considered "public information" on a govermental level.

However, to support your article, there was an incident in which 18 year old David Ludwig of PA shot dead the parents of his 14 year old girlfriend, Kara Beth Borden. This happened back in November. Its the lunatic version of Romeo and Juliet.

At any rate, their blogs were connected to blogs of their friends and so on and so on. They all posted their first and last names, the cities they lived in, and lots of pics of themselves and each other. Many of the kids live in small communites. A pedophiles dream, a parents nightmare.

Most of the blogs were taken down. Imagine finding out about your teenager's online blog by watching reporters on CNN talk about it and scroll through it on TV. Thats a cool feeling.

If you need more info, let me know.