lack of privacy on the internet

[firecat]

Two people came to my door yesterday and asked for me by my (legal) name. They claimed to be from the company that I buy landline phone service from (AT&T) and were trying to upsell me on some more services and generally fishing for information. I told them I was happy with the services I have.

I wondered if it was a scam, but I thought "they have my name, and I don't think my full name is publicly associated with my address and phone number."

I told the OH about it and he pointed me here:

http://neighbors.whitepages.com/

I entered an address in my neighborhood. It had full names and telephone numbers associated with every house on my block.

So I take note that anyone can look up my address and associate it with my legal name. Supposedly you can remove your info from this particular site, but it would probably just pop up somewhere else.

Comments

[graymalkin13.livejournal.com]

Awhile back I googled my name and the names of various family members, just to see what would happen. On one website, my parents' names and address were listed, along with their "associates": my name and the names of all of my siblings, including the ones who don't live with my parents. I can't find that site right now, so maybe it's been taken down.

I just googled my own name and I'm on that whitepages site (along with my address, of course), as well as MyLife and some other stalker-friendly sites.

You can never be paranoid enough when it comes to the interwebs.