You're not anonymous. I know your name, email, and company.

reply to post by kalisdad


I totally agree, that information is given up freely and anyone who does so can no longer expect to have it kept private. But to say that the internet is like the wild west where anyone can datamine your PC for personal information is just plain stupid. That's an invasion of privacy and the fact that they can do it does not make it legal by any means.

Originally posted by Blarneystoner
reply to post by kalisdad

 

I totally agree, that information is given up freely and anyone who does so can no longer expect to have it kept private. But to say that the internet is like the wild west where anyone can datamine your PC for personal information is just plain stupid. That's an invasion of privacy and the fact that they can do it does not make it legal by any means.

here is a recent ars tecnica story,

We recently learned that even the director of the CIA, David Petraeus, can’t seem to secure his private e-mail conversations properly, and over the past month tech commentators have responded to that discovery with a familiar litany of depressing advice: Privacy doesn’t exist online, e-mail is as public as a postcard, and don’t say anything on the Internet you wouldn’t want to read in the newspaper. Civil libertarians, meanwhile, have urged the need for legal reforms—such as a proposal just approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to require police to get a warrant before obtaining e-mails or personal files stored in the cloud, which Congress is likely to consider next year.

arstechnica.com...

catch that bit,
privacy doesnt exist online, public as a postcard,

xploder

Several years ago (five or so), I came across a cookie amalgator. They had thousands of cookie collectors who all shared their cookies with everybody else in the "cookie club".

The Internet isn't the only source of all this mess. RFID in all your merchandize, store cards, and more contribute to the data sink.

BUT - the most infuriating non-Internet, offline source was a hair-cutter! I got my hair trimmed, paid cash and gave an extra large tip. But that didn't satisfy them!

They insisted on my email address, a credit card and driver's licence to accept the SMALL bills!

She wanted my name, phone number address - the whole ball of wax!

I told her "NO!"

She continued to DEMAND and said she needed it for her computer.

After a dozen "NO!"s and my explanation that I didn't need to go home and find a hundred spam mails from companies that want to sell a particular sex organ enlargement (that thankfully I have no need for as a woman) when she sells my name to other companies.

She did NOT deny that the information would not be sold.

I walked out with her yelling and chasing me to the vehicle. I drove away and won't get my hair cut by her ever again.

So, the culprits are not just online.