Anonymity and the Internet

[reitz]

Due to my recent thread, I've had several people PM me and suggest that I blur out my liscense plate for safety reasons.

I guess I just don't get it. My response to the latest suggestion:

Thanks, but I'm not concerned. Anyone who would spend the $20 to find out my name/address from the liscense plate could do it for free in an instant with a couple of searches using info I've posted to the web over the past few years. The url for those pictures alone would give someone my adress/phone number with a single three-second search.

Someone who is determined is going to find me no matter what. The odds of some lunatic finding my personal information online and deciding to find and kill me is probably around the same probablility of a meteor landing on my house tonight while I sleep.

I've already had a bipolar individual off his meds randomly try to kill me while I went about my normal business. A few years ago, I was chased for thirty miles at dangerous speeds by an unknown assailant while on a camping trip in North Carolina. Neither one of those people had the first clue who I am...or even what my name is. Why would I waste effort worrying about who the next lunatic is going to be?

Weird people are everywhere and weird sh!t happens all the time. Sometimes weird sh!t happens to me.

If I wanted to simply cause trouble, rile people up, or post radical opinions that might get me on a list somewhere, I'd try to keep anonymous. I don't do that, though, so I've got no reason to be afraid. It's possiblle that some nutjob somewhere could find out who I am and find out where I live...but so could anyone in Pittsburgh with a phonebook.

I'm not going to waste time worrying about all of the dangers that are out there...I'd rather not go insane. I prefer to just live my life, and deal with the sh!t as it comes up. So far, I've got a pretty good record.

Do you require anonymity on the Internet? Please answer the simple poll, and reply with an explanation.

Matt Reitzell
910 Kris Drive #179
Moon, PA 15108
412-719-1055

[addendum]Stupid Zim Hosein language filter. Piece of Zim Hosein made me re-type the entire Zim Hosein post twice. If these boards are going to be so PC, they should at least try to keep the text of a post, instead of making the user retype the whole Zim Hosein thing when a "bad word" is found.

 

[BrokenVisage]

hmm, yes that language filter is a bitch.

 

[jspeicher]

cuss cuss, naughty naughty

 

[RossMAN]

Pick up the damn phone!

 

[yllus]

I try to minimize things like this for the sake of minimizing risk. Not that someone's going to come kill me, but identity theft related crime.

So I've got your full name, address and phone number. With a bit of research, I could probably find out your mother's name, and from there her maiden name. Or maybe the school you went to as a kid. From there I could attempt to answer a bunch of "secret questions" at various popular websites and collect even more information about you until I can do something related to $.

Sure, it's a stretch and there's probably more money/less risk in simply keeping a regular job. But why take that first step and expose yourself unnecessarily?

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: reitz
Due to my recent thread, I've had several people PM me and suggest that I blur out my liscense plate for safety reasons.

I guess I just don't get it. My response to the latest suggestion:

Thanks, but I'm not concerned. Anyone who would spend the $20 to find out my name/address from the liscense plate could do it for free in an instant with a couple of searches using info I've posted to the web over the past few years. The url for those pictures alone would give someone my adress/phone number with a single three-second search.

Someone who is determined is going to find me no matter what. The odds of some lunatic finding my personal information online and deciding to find and kill me is probably around the same probablility of a meteor landing on my house tonight while I sleep.

I've already had a bipolar individual off his meds randomly try to kill me while I went about my normal business. A few years ago, I was chased for thirty miles at dangerous speeds by an unknown assailant while on a camping trip in North Carolina. Neither one of those people had the first clue who I am...or even what my name is. Why would I waste effort worrying about who the next lunatic is going to be?

Weird people are everywhere and weird sh!t happens all the time. Sometimes weird sh!t happens to me.

If I wanted to simply cause trouble, rile people up, or post radical opinions that might get me on a list somewhere, I'd try to keep anonymous. I don't do that, though, so I've got no reason to be afraid. It's possiblle that some nutjob somewhere could find out who I am and find out where I live...but so could anyone in Pittsburgh with a phonebook.

I'm not going to waste time worrying about all of the dangers that are out there...I'd rather not go insane. I prefer to just live my life, and deal with the sh!t as it comes up. So far, I've got a pretty good record.

Do you require anonymity on the Internet? Please answer the simple poll, and reply with an explanation.

Matt Reitzell
910 Kris Drive #179
Moon, PA 15108
412-719-1055

[addendum]Stupid fu*king language filter. Piece of sh*t made me re-type the entire fu*king post twice. If these boards are going to be so PC, they should at least try to keep the text of a post, instead of making the user retype the whole fu*king thing when a "bad word" is found.

<-- "quotes" the post in case reitz changes his mind! :evil:

 

[Alternex]

Why are people concerned about bluring license plates? It's not like they're private. Someone can do a reverse lookup just as easily online as in real life. With any IP address one can find out what city you're in anyways.

 

[TNTrulez]

Gonna call you to say hi.

 

[Alternex]

Originally posted by: yllus
I try to minimize things like this for the sake of minimizing risk. Not that someone's going to come kill me, but identity theft related crime.

So I've got your full name, address and phone number. With a bit of research, I could probably find out your mother's name, and from there her maiden name. Or maybe the school you went to as a kid. From there I could attempt to answer a bunch of "secret questions" at various popular websites and collect even more information about you until I can do something related to $.

Sure, it's a stretch and there's probably more money/less risk in simply keeping a regular job. But why take that first step and expose yourself unnecessarily?

All you need for that are a person's name, so giving extra info like address isn't doesn't help that much.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Where's the "I hacked into PA DMV and I'm on a JetBlue flight to Philly to stalk you for the rest of your life!!!" option?

 

[TNTrulez]

Hw come the filter didn't work with the OP? It seems like he's cussing and it's not filtering.

 

[TNTrulez]

Hw come the filter didn't work with the OP? It seems like he's cussing and it's not filtering.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: TNTrulez
Hw come the filter didn't work with the OP? It seems like he's cussing and it's not filtering.

good question, and it's interesting to see an "elite" member throwing out f-bombs like that.

 

[FeuerFrei]

see ya soon Matt!!

*stab*
*stab*

I will remain anonymous, thanks.

 

[reitz]

sully,

My mother's maiden name is Fischer, and I was born in Erie, PA on 1/20/1978. Good luck in figuring out the passwords I've set on all my important accounts, though. Every credit card and loan company allows you to set a password on your account...if you haven't done so, you're an idiot.

Matt

 

[GeekDrew]

No kidding....

http://geeklog.andrewmstemen.com/staticpages/index.php?page=2004112916140361

(^ has my license plate in it)

 

[imthebadguy]

how would one go about finding out licence plate info?

challenge find this
Michigan Plates
BR88S

 

[ruffilb]

If someone wanted to find me, they could.

 

[virtueixi]

Originally posted by: imtheDEADguy
how would one go about finding out licence plate info?

challenge find this
Michigan Plates
BR88S

fixed

 

[yllus]

Originally posted by: reitz
sully,

My mother's maiden name is Fischer, and I was born in Erie, PA on 1/20/1978. Good luck in figuring out the passwords I've set on all my important accounts, though. Every credit card and loan company allows you to set a password on your account...if you haven't done so, you're an idiot.

Matt

Blast you for throwing down the gauntlet. But the point is I'd try to reset your passwords using insider knowledge about your life, not try figure or brute force them out. Of course that's become a lot harder in the last two years as Hotmail and all banking sites have gotten pretty wise to that scam.

And for those of you who haven't yet figured out how to bypass the cursing filter, you just haven't been motivated enough yet to figure it out. It's not exactly a code issue, preventing this particular workaround would mean a massive CPU hit.

 

[reitz]

Originally posted by: TNTrulez
Hw come the filter didn't work with the OP? It seems like he's cussing and it's not filtering.

TNT,

If you change your font size, the language filter won't give you problems. Try a larger font...

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: virtueixi

Originally posted by: imtheDEADguy
how would one go about finding out licence plate info?

challenge find this
Michigan Plates
BR88S

fixed

uh huh.... sure....

 

[DVad3r]

Your right, it's retarded, I guess people are more anti-social on the net and fear things that are not too relevant in real life. I guess they don't process what the likeliness is of someone actually stalking you etc., especially random people from online forums. I'm suprised at peoples reluctance to give out personal info, even some people on the trade forum don't want to share when I ask for name/address/phone # for reference.

The only people that should consider keeping a bit annonymous is the female members like mosh etc on ATOT, since there is a vast male population here that doesnt have too much to do, and like 3 females.

That's my 2 cents...

 

[BrokenVisage]

Originally posted by: reitz

Originally posted by: TNTrulez
Hw come the filter didn't work with the OP? It seems like he's cussing and it's not filtering.

TNT,

If you change your font size, the language filter won't give you problems. Try a larger font...

speakth not!

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: BrokenVisage

Originally posted by: reitz

Originally posted by: TNTrulez
Hw come the filter didn't work with the OP? It seems like he's cussing and it's not filtering.

TNT,

If you change your font size, the language filter won't give you problems. Try a larger font...

speakth not!

this thread is a revelation