The recent involvement of three Americans and one Brit in
subduing an armed terrorist on a French train has prompted certain warnings on
the Internet about the availability of Internet information. Armed with a name, job and perhaps a photo,
terrorist could, it is suggested, seek you and your family out for
retribution. The advice is aimed at both
military and police, but it doesn’t take much to extrapolate to include EMTs, Civil
Service, city employees, Fire Department and teachers. Just to start the list. The people who are the gears that make the
machinery of society work are also targets.
The advice, of course is to not have an internet profile. In today’s world this is a difficult goal to
achieve. I worked with one man who
confided he had a facebook page only to see pictures that a frat brother post’s
of his children. For many of us working
stiffs Linked-In and Monster are employment safety nets. Even without them the information you are
forced to release to websites you subscribe to or purchase from is often sold
and ends up as part of a searchable data base you can access for pennies.
Still, what harm?
I Googled a co-worker using only their name and place of
employment. I ignored any website that
required I pay for information. Knowing
where they worked told me what state and city. I had to work through similar names with
various middle initials but I soon found a rhythm to it. I found pointers to street addresses,
partial phone numbers, identity of spouse, ages and a picture of themselves
that they posted.
Ack! It was creepy
and made me feel dirty, all in 7 minutes.
But to a terrorist it could be a gold mine.
I don’t know what to say.
I’m certainly not an identity security expert. I went online and found a lot about identity
theft related problems and responses, but nothing about preventing someone from
finding you, your spouse or your address.
I suggest you never post a picture of yourself on line or
allow your children to do the same. I
would suggest using the same ploy Paxton Quigley recommends in “Armed and
Female.” Get a mail box from Fed-Ex or another
company that looks like an address.
Employers want to know where you live?
Credit card companies? On-line
orders? Give ‘em that address.
Keep your personal life off the internet, especially if your
job makes you a target. You still might
need to have a Internet presence, but think very hard about what you say and
release. I’m never going to use the same
middle initial and thank God I never used my wife’s name or the name(s) of my
children, assuming I have any.
So what am I doing blogging?
Even before this I gave some thought and decided I was a low
risk if I was careful. No names, no good
pictures, mislead when possible about my personal specifics. Plus, nobody is really interested in a dog
catcher working for…
Thought you had me there for a minute, didn’t you.
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