Do you ever get a little freaked out about how much info MN (should any insider bother to link to your details) have you on?

[FineDamBeaver]

MNHQ, if you're listening, I imagine your interest in snooping on posters is essentially nil, and that you're far too busy to bother.

But, at a click of a button MN could cut through all our name changes and piece together pretty extensive character assassination.
Does this scare you, MNers??

Oops, that was meant to go in Chat. Sorry for inappropriate AIBU.

Someone once did a PI on people who asked based on the information in their posts.

They PMed the information and it was scarily accurate what they discovered from what I remember.

You don't need to be MNHQ ... someone with enough time and patience could start to trawl MN posts, FB posts, various online forums, Twitter, and cross reference enough to start to link individuals - irrespective of their nom-de-net.

And we're at the cusp of a new era, when this technique can be used on people who have posted, but been posted about - i.e. our kids. Almost any 18 year old today will enter their adult life with a wake of visible and connectable information behind them.

But since there is, practically, nothing that can be done about it, it's a case of having to adjust our minds as a society.

Scared ? Haven't got time.

I was thinking about this only yesterday, wondering if anyone at MNHQ would be tempted to spill the beans should I ever marry Prince Harry become famous.

Have never name changed so they wouldn't have much of a job.
If they did, they would probably decide I am both guilt ridden and sarcastic, which is true. They would not find anything interesting or damning as I am incredibly dull.
For this reason I am also not scared of what Facebook, telemarketers or google can find out.

I am aware of it and occasionally change little details like how many DCs, their age/sex etc. so that if anyone were really interested enough to sift through my many mindless posts there might be enough inconsistencies to put them off the scent. However, anything very personal/outing/embarrassing I will NC.

Hmm... just searched my username on here and came up with my health issues, divorce details, a photo of my fave scarf and a couple of other threads I've posted on!

I'd definitely recognise me from that, but whether anyone else would I don't know. It would certainly give them a nudge in the right direction if they suspected who I was!

I am very identifiable from my Mumsnet posts, but I don't use facebook or twitter and am a bit of a boring hermit so I am hoping that no one would ever bother to search! Otherwise I am in trouble.

Meh. Nope. I don't care, or I wouldn't have posted it.

I love it though when people just casually announce on these threads "Oh everything's true except sometimes I change incidental details". Well now you've just told everybody that they can disregard those details totally And this is AIBU, not chat.

TBH though I don't understand why people worry about it. Some people have reason to - malicious relatives, exes, well known people in the public eye, outspoken online blogger, etc, but for 99% of posters, I don't really get the whole internet paranoia thing. Each to their own.

it's a case of having to adjust our minds as a society

Yes, LurkingHusband, I suppose so. But I think the ability to name change means we sometimes don't appreciate how much info we're putting out there, so we don't adjust our minds as much as pretend it's not happening.
Name changing means the average person with little time and no access to MNHQ probably can't/won't link up much info. But it's all there to be linked.
MNHQ just needs to sell it on to employers/insurers/governments, etc....

On the plus side, so much "data" (for some values of cat vidoes) is flooding into the internet daily, it tends to dilute everything else. Even with the power of Google, someone has to sift through search results.

The reason I am opposed to mass surveillance by the state isn't ideological (well, it is) but more practical. The more stuff you have, the harder it is to find anything in it. Meaning the chances of something being missed (false negative) rises,. Making us less safe. Also the chances of a false positive increase too. And given that people who flag up as false positives can end up with 7 bullets in what was left of their head, it's a risk I'd rather not take.

Given that "the internet" can't really know who's dead and who's not, it's interesting to speculate as to how many "people" on the internet are really alive.

Not MNHQ, no but sometimes I worry about being recognised on here by people I know in real life.

There was a poster who started a thread about me a while back. Obviously they didn't know who I was as they were posting about an incident in a coffee shop but I recognised myself as being the person they were complaining about.

A couple of people have found out I post on here so I guess if they suspected it was me they could look up my posts and maybe piece it all together.

Yeah Bertie, they could but I don't really know anyone who would bother, so I'm not really concerned. And most of the posts I refer to are pre-name change, as Amy I haven't said too much incriminating I hope

Not MNHQ, no but sometimes I worry about being recognised on here by people I know in real life.

Yes me too. It's something I've become increasingly more concious about over the years. I'm more wary now over what I post on online forums now than I was a few years ago.

I have name changed a few times over the 10 years I have been on MN. I certainly don't tell people in RL that I post on MN since I value my anonymity and the ability to seek advice or simply to vent safely. However, it's horses for courses - there are some posters who I recognise even through name changes purely due to the fact that although they are strangers, they are extremely identifiable. I guess some people will always be more comfortable than others regarding the amount of personal information they disclose on a public forum.

I don't really worry about personal info, exactly, because name-changing can pretty much prevent casual "recognising" by friends/family, etc., being a problem.
I do worry a bit about things like political opinions (not mine, really, because they're not very radical). But people feel really relaxed discussing things in supposed anonymity on here. All it takes is a bit more of a move further into thought-policing (already going on, and increasingly talked about by the likes of Cameron) and lots of people are very vulnerable.
It sounds tin-foil-hatty, but a few years ago this level of potential intrusion would have been unthinkable. As everyone says, though, not much you can do if you like chatting online.

Google has far far more information on you. All those cookies on your computer.

But if it helps,I'm an atheist, Republican and reasonably left wing. There's loads more about me on here.

But if it helps,I'm an atheist, Republican and reasonably left wing. There's loads more about me on here.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would have equated Republicans with right-wing. But then I did grow up when Reagan was prez.

Republican as in no Monarchy.

I often wonder if posters I really like on here are people I really wouldn't like in RL. Can you imagine if that poster you always agree with and love their humour on MN is that absolute bitch you see every day and despise haha

I would love to meet some posters on here who I've argued with online. It's "easier" to argue online when you can't see the reaction of another person.

There are people on here who are really horrible online - I would love to have a proper discusssion face to face with them.

Couldn't give a stuff really.

OrlandoWoolf

Republican as in no Monarchy

Even as I pressed "post" that occurred to me.

I deal with too many Americans ...