Got tracked down for my school reunion
Got tracked down for my school reunion
Today I was contacted by someone at work. She graduated school with me and our 20 year reunion was coming up. Why did she contact me at work? It was the only way they were able to track me down. I was included in promotional material by name. She told me I "was the hardest to track down"and I had to smile.
This is just a small anecdote about privacy practices and their real life impact (and how your employer can undo all of it, I guess)
Call me pessimistic, but I do think:
- Privacy is an illusion.
- Control is an illusion (a reference to Mr. Robot).
Certainly, we can do a lot to have more privacy, but it is an illusion to think that we have complete control over it. Especially with social media, jobs, and today's technology.
You're right, but that doesn't mean we have to give up completely.
I’ve come to realize most of the privacy hawk arguments are based on imagined risks, and the average privacy enthusiast is an ideologically driven idealist. What is the end goal beyond pumping one’s ego?
Especially internet privacy hawks are the worst. It just doesn’t really matter at all. Unless you are all cash, off the grid, no phone or bank account etc, you will leave a huge trail. Instagram figuring out I like basketball is the least of my worries.
Hello friend
daydream, i feel asleep amid the flowers
Morality is just as much of an illusion, doesn't mean you should be allowed to smash someone's skull in with a brick. Social constructs and social contract were dreamed up by our species because they work and have utility.
So we better fucking do everything we CAN to sustain the "illusions*.
It seems like my comment has upset you or at least agitated you, if that’s not the case – it’s the impression you gave me.
I never said that we should ‘’not do everything we can’’; of course, we should. But that certainly does not mean we control everything. No matter how hard you try and how well you manage to maintain both privacy and control, at some point there will be a ‘’leak’’. Not by you but perhaps by your job, your family, friends or acquaintance. There are to many external things to have 100% control.
In today’s era, both privacy and control are truly mere illusions because you can maintain your privacy and believe you are in control, yet somewhere along the way, you leave a trail behind, especially with technology. I’m not sure why you brought ‘’morality’’ into the discussion of privacy and control – because that’s a whole other argument. This post and my comments were merely about these two.
Though, I did not expect my comment to get this much attention. It's just my personal opinion, you can agree and disagree.
Morality is not an illusion, it's a social construct.
Absolute privacy is an illusion, because it doesn't really exist, and if you believe you have achieved it you are fooling yourself.
they are not really comparable concepts.
I had this argument with my boss and lost. They made all of us take photos that they posted on the company website. I said I'm working pretty hard on making myself invisible and don't appreciate being forced to out myself like this. Tough shit. My name picture and contact info are out there for all to see.
They showed you how much they value you: less than a name and photo on their website. Sorry, bruv. I wish they had respected your wishes.
What the fuck? Where are you from? That would be illegal in germany. If you don't want to be in the internet, they can't just force you.
I think this would be illegal in California too
Username checks out
Can’t speak for other countries but in the US this is horse shit.
My 10y reunion is coming up, and im like 99% sure that nobody will be able to find me lol.
Im not in contact with anyone, and ive even changed my name and as far as i know none of them know the new one either :')I have one up one you: I'm 100% sure nobody will find me because I'm 100% sure nobody will look for me. So take that, I guess.
Have your parents and siblings changed their everything as well? That's how I would try to find someone I went to school with.
I have a Google Alert set up, so I get notified in case my name pops up on the web. A month after I joined a new company, I got an alert - turned out that their internal directory page was exposed to the public web. I was pretty livid - all this time I was proud of maintaining good anonymity, looking up my name never returned anything meaningful on Google. So I complained to my boss about this, and he said it was actually a bug/misconfiguration - which they were already aware of, but didn't bother fixing it because no one complained. I was super pissed and made it very clear that it was a violation of my privacy and I wanted it taken down ASAP. Thankfully my boss was understanding and got it fixed. Then I had to report the page to Google. It took a while, but it was finally gone from the search results.
To help with this in the future, you can also create several fake results sharing your real name. Stuff like a blogger with one post not in your writing style, etc.. This will dilute searches with disinformation. Removal of real data is important, but you can also confuse anyone looking.
You could use an AI generated fake face and fake history too if your name is unique to make people think they either found the wrong person or make them unsure of the other listings mentioning you with only your name as an identifier
Calm down Dexter. We all know your secret!
In terms of online presence I think one has to be careful about becoming too private - at what point do you become so untrackable that even people you would like to find you (I.e. old friends) can't anymore.
I would fully like to erase my online presence. I dont want people seeking me out.
I have a website that shows up when someone searches my name on the internet and an email there. This way people are able to contact me and I don't have to use any spyware like Facebook.
But whether that works for you depends on your threat model, I guess.
I guess you can ask her how she managed to track you... later on do the necessary adjustments.
Anyone can be found, the only question is how much effort people are willing to put into finding them.
It seems better than having the FBI track you down (not that they need too as they track all of us all the time)
I've been told by classmates that I am on the "unable to track down" list for my school.
That you have kept in touch means the school didn't try hard... 😂
Luckily I hated everyone in highschool and they never bothered me again once I left. If this has happened to me I'd have laughed in their face.
Well, at least you were wanted.
I'm pretty sure they called my cell all week during work hours. Place had horrible reception so if the call came through at all, i couldnt answer cause well, im at work.
But nobody ever left a message so shrug
Sucks they were able to find you this way. That's why I always use a pseudonym.
Yeah ok James
:O
It may not always be good to be invisible. You could make a website for yourself sich that people can find you and contact you. You can tgen decide if you want to write back. E.g a mastodon account would be enough. You don't gave to blog with that acc.
Personally, I think being impervious to damage is a great thing 😂
Shit 😂
I would be pissed and just say "that was on purpose, fuck you".
Or you could not be a dick
Hunting down someone and calling them at their place of work is the dick here. Thats crazy. Leave people alone if they are hard to find. Someones privacy isnt someone elses sherlock holmes moment.
OPs invader sounds like someone who peaked in HS and cant let it go.
Someone is putting a lot of work into including/inviting you.
Yea my first respond would also totally be: "Fuck that person in particular" /s
Is it really an issue that people can contact you? Its not really an issue of privacy if all they can do is contact you..
I kinda agree with you, being impossible to contact is probably unachievable in today society...Isn't it more important to avoid sharing more personal information, like your exact location history with Google? (or pls explain me the downvotes)
Well I'm saying I want to be contactable. I've moved many times in my life, and I don't want to loose contact with old lovers, friends, and colleagues.
Isn't it wonderful when an old friend sends you a message and you get to catch up?