No Anonymity on the Internet

Have any of you ever heard of a site called :123people.com?

My sister heard about it on the radio. Apparently it is yet another site that displays personal information about you on the web. But no only will it give your address and phone number, it also displays:

- any of your uploaded photos online
- your email addresses
- any web links associated with your name
- any web sites associated with your name
- your Amazon.com screen name
- other screen names you have available, like on AOL
- your blog web addresses
- videos you've uploaded to the web
- any news articles that include your name
- any documents with your name in it (i.e., uploaded work documents/articles)
- your facebook or myspace pages

I’ve always felt that this sort of thing is a major violation of privacy. I’m not even sure how this information becomes public – especially when you’re classified as ‘unlisted’. I searched my name, and some of my information does come up. I set up some major restrictions on my Facebook page, so at least that is not searchable to the public. I would hate for photos of my family/friends to be floating around for public view. I’ve set similar restrictions to my Flickr and LinkedIn pages.

I understand that when you put something on the web, you run the risk of everyone somehow seeing it. But, seriously, do random people need to know my address and phone number?

Be careful what you upload online. You even have to be careful what you post on online forums. Those messages are also searchable on Google.