In thinking over some of the things I have written online, I got a real bad feeling about it. This is why:

There are people (I have met some of them) that are expert at piecing together bits, odds and ends, and details of what people say and do to find out everything they need to know about them. Some of them are called "Investigators". Some are just plain nosey. The ones I worry about fall into two groups:

Criminals
and
Terrorists.

And everything they need is online...

Why leave a trail to anyone else for any reason here?

It would be bad practice.

Most people are not aware of how simply they think of things - they assume everything will be alright. THAT IS CALLED A "BOX". For your own safety you need to think "OUTSIDE OF THE BOX". That is what I'd like to point out to you.

There are hackers and other terror mongerers out there (yes, a "Hacker" is a form of terrorist. What did you pay for your computer? Mine is a custom unit. All of my personal stuff is on a machine that absolutely NEVER goes online under any circumstances. A computer can be replaced, but once a criminal has enough personal information you are at far more risk of damage than you ever imagined. THAT is the danger) and they just do damage in a different way. Don't let it happen! Avoid mentioning other sites that you frequent, post NO E-Mails, anything that might be traceable might be traced. Don't give out your address or telephone number on public message boards....

We have all read the news, and Theo is expert at determining what kind of information can be used by a malignant person online. Many cases of internet crime have been prosecuted over the last several years - including what I think could be called "Invited Tresspass", "Invited Statutory Rape", and "Invited Kidnapping".

The victims gave all the information necessary to the perpetrators online, and even showed up at an agreed pick-up point, thinking perhaps that their dream of a lifetime was awaiting them, only to find themselves at the mercy of a TOTAL NIGHTMARE.

Think about that. It could save you

Limit any and all personal information that you post online to an absolute minimum. Absolute minimum is defined as: NOTHING

Understand something, think about this seriously at least for a few moments: Whatever you place on a world wide accessable message forum is accessable by everyone in the world. And some of them are not very nice people.


~Greywolf sends

 

10-4 greywolf.

 

Wow, you really have thought a lot about it haven't you? I do keep this in the back of my mind wherever I go. My dad always used to tell me that the most valuable thing you have is your personal information.

 

I've thought a lot more about it lately than I ever did before.

That's for sure....

 

there was a story in the paper her not so long ago about a girl that had gotten raped by an online stalker. he was from two or three states over and he had seen her on a chat page and read her bio on one of those chat page bio pages like on yahoo. according to the story i hope i get this right, it had said that she had never meationed the town she lived in but had said she lived in southeast iowa. and she meationed she was a waitress at a popular resturant here. she had a few pictures on her home page showing her family and friends and other stuff about her life. i guess the guy pieced togather who she was and where she worked and then googled her name and came up with an address and phone number ( have you ever googleed anyone, you can find out almost anything at www.google.com by entering someones name) well he traveled here, staked out her house followed her for a couple days and then one night when she was getting off work she stopped to get gas and he snuck into the back of her car and well a crime happened that was pretty bad. It is amazing this so called computer information age, when you want information on anything all you want is just a few keystrokes away. makes you stop and really think sometimes

 

Hmm...I have decided that regardless of how much I I do or do not give out it is not going ot matter. It is the guy waitning behind your truck you are sleeping in that you got to worry about.

 

GW -
I'll agree that you should limit the amount of stuff that you give out to the online community -- in particular to machines/servers that are outside your direct control. But I don't agree that you should live in a world of complete paranoia.

Good security practices should be invoked, but you needn't take it to the ultra-they'll-hack-me-if-I-don't extreme.

Put your machine behind a firewall, use the basic "default deny" rules, use passwords on your machines, and patch when they are available. If you want to take it a bit further, get rid of Windows and move to a Mac or Linux box.

The "hackers" (you are actually referring to a cracker, but that is another definition debate) out there are looking for the quick target. If you have a simple firewall in front of your machine(s) you'll likely not show up on their radar and they'll not spend any time targeting you. Unless, of course, you've pissed one of 'em off and they are out to get you.

 

god help you if you miss off a hacker group, there wrath is not nice, had a friend who got in one and called them child like masterbaters who cant get a date, and some other chice stuff and he had to change isp's, they were ruthless, they even had his power and water tuned off and some other crap.

 

you should always be careful when getting rid of the old computer. You don't want to have any valueable information on it.