How do you protect your privacy?

[Carson Dyle]

I'm not talking about how do you protect the credit card number you used at Target from being used to buy liquor in Jacksonville. Good luck with that one. I'm talking about how do you keep people - anyone who wants to know - from tracking you down?

On google or other search engines I can look up people I knew as a kid that I haven't seen in 40 or more years. I can find their home address, their previous address, every address they've ever had. I can find obituaries of their parents, find their spouse and childrens' names, and their in-laws' names. And, if I like, can find addresses and spouses and children and property ownership of any of those people, too. Their high schools, their colleges.

Is it actually possible today to keep yourself out of such searches?

 

[ImpulsE69]

I never post anything on the internet. At all. Ever. Anywhere.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Posting to forums, product review, etc., unless you're connecting it to a facebook profile with your real name, would likely be the very last way to link you. And it wouldn't likely reveal any real information. You bought a weed eater from Amazon and liked it. Big deal.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I was thinking about it the other day, and wondered whether voter records, which are public, are one of the main means of linking names to real people.

 

[Kaido]

I'm not talking about how do you protect the credit card number you used at Target from being used to buy liquor in Jacksonville. Good luck with that one. I'm talking about how do you keep people - anyone who wants to know - from tracking you down?

On google or other search engines I can look up people I knew as a kid that I haven't seen in 40 or more years. I can find their home address, their previous address, every address they've ever had. I can find obituaries of their parents, find their spouse and childrens' names, and their in-laws' names. And, if I like, can find addresses and spouses and children and property ownership of any of those people, too. Their high schools, their colleges.

Is it actually possible today to keep yourself out of such searches?

I mean, not really. Facebook has a shadow profile you, even if you're not registered:

https://theconversation.com/shadow-...about-you-even-if-youre-not-on-facebook-94804

Behold, the Facebook Pixel tracking system:

https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/how-facebook-tracks-you-even-when-youre-not-on-facebook/

The list of data points that Facebook allowed advertisers to use was nearly 100 two years ago, imagine what it is now:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...oints-that-facebook-uses-to-target-ads-to-you

The government is doing pretty wild stuff with Big Data & data collection, as are online advertisers. I mean, this TED video was 6 years ago now, imagine what advertisers have access to today:

Just be grateful you're not in China!

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/chinese-government-social-credit-score-privacy-invasion

There's some interesting ideas there, for sure:

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit

As far as general-access data goes, I mean, there's so much out there. Just look at what DNA tests are doing to people's familial knowledge:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ents-fertility-doctor/?utm_term=.17529afb7b9e

Even hackers slip up sometimes & get doxxed:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...outed-by-former-anons-long-before-his-arrest/

Tracking-wise, there's a million tools available...IP-based data collection, canvas fingerprinting, WebRTC leaks, etc. Check some out here & also check out the "more tools" list at the bottom:

https://browserleaks.com/

Anyone can go pay for an online background check these days too. I mean, you can try to remove yourself from the major ones:

https://gizmodo.com/5827962/how-to-remove-your-personal-information-from-background-check-websites

But public information is public information, and the older you get, then typically the more public records there's going to be of you. It's very difficult to keep a low or invisible footprint of yourself on the Internet these days, and it's surprisingly easy to get doxxed nowadays. You're not safe on VPN, tor, Duck Duck Go, anything these days.

/puts on tinfoil hat

 

[highland145]

I'm not talking about how do you protect the credit card number you used at Target from being used to buy liquor in Jacksonville. Good luck with that one. I'm talking about how do you keep people - anyone who wants to know - from tracking you down?

On google or other search engines I can look up people I knew as a kid that I haven't seen in 40 or more years. I can find their home address, their previous address, every address they've ever had. I can find obituaries of their parents, find their spouse and childrens' names, and their in-laws' names. And, if I like, can find addresses and spouses and children and property ownership of any of those people, too. Their high schools, their colleges.

Is it actually possible today to keep yourself out of such searches?

I double dog dare you to find @lxskllr :colbert;

 

[lxskllr]

I double dog dare you to find @lxskllr :colbert;

:^D

You'd probably find a lot under that name, but not much irl stuff. I somewhat foolishly used the same user name everywhere. My thinking was it promotes accountability. I stand by what I write, and don't hide behind throwaway names. As the years passed, it's become more apparent that wasn't necessarily the best approach, but I'm sticking with it; at least for the time being.

 

[highland145]

:^D

You'd probably find a lot under that name, but not much irl stuff. I somewhat foolishly used the same user name everywhere. My thinking was it promotes accountability. I stand by what I write, and don't hide behind throwaway names. As the years passed, it's become more apparent that wasn't necessarily the best approach, but I'm sticking with it; at least for the time being.

Well, crap. That was too easy. He's right here.

 

[highland145]

OP stay off the internet, con't have a cell or use credit. Don't have property in your name either. Even Jack Reacher is " findable"....except when they try and find a body double.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Pretty impossible if you want to live any semblance of a life. Buying a house will put you on a bunch of public record stuff that is easily searchable. My address can be looked up on my county tax website, wherein you can see lots of interesting stuff including the basic layout of my house! Otherwise like any other security related effort, reduce your attack surface I suppose.