AIBU to be freaked out by this or am I just a bit ignorant about the workings of the WWW?!

[littlebitfreaked]

So I’ve followed a lot of feminist chats over the last year about the changes to the GRA and became rather obsessed (peaked I guess ha ha) about learning all I could and going on twitter for the first time to see what was going on. I’ve never read anything about it anywhere other than MN and it would have been easy for this to have all passed me by without me knowing. Anyway it all depressed me so much I’m sorry to say I had to stop reading about it so today was the first I learned about the data breach by Emma healey (Side note - I don’t think I was living under a rock for the last month and am on MN daily and never saw anything about this on any of the trending / active lists which is where I always go. )

So I started trying to find out if my own IP may have been compromised as I have posted a fair few times on MN specifically on the feminism chat boards asking questions and trying to educate myself.

In the process I googled some of my past usernames and was shocked to find every post I’ve started or comment I’ve made and photos I’ve shared are right there on google.

So to cut a long story short can you tell me if that is a bit scary and surprising as I feel about it or if everyone already knew this ?

Well I knew, I don’t think it’s a secret.

Pretty much everything you post on the internet is google-able.

That’s why you don’t choose names that have any personal significance to you and make sure you either post nothing personal or NC regularly.

What? Yes, Google will find things on the internet that have been posted publicly on the internet.

Tbf your use of mumsnet may push search results from the mumsnet site higher up the list for you (same as if you live in Liverpool it might show you Liverpool-related search results first)

@Copperbonnet yes I was worried but sure I'll be told I'm an idiot for not realizing that everything you post anywhere online is accessible to anyone in the world once it's there, forever. I understood it in theory but imagined it to be about the sharing aspect and the search aspect never even crossed my mind! Perhaps I felt MN was a bit of a safe bubble where we all talked and gave advice and it was all just "in here" .
Shit I'm an idiot !!
It's a bit like when my 8 year old googled something a bit 18 rated and I had never considered they even knew what google was for nor that they knew the word they googled.
I also only understood about targeted advertising recently and used to find it weird that someone obscure I'd searched for would suddenly pop up in stories , videos or ads on Facebook.

Perhaps I should actually not be online if I'm so uninformed

"Perhaps I should actually not be online if I'm so uninformed"

So true. Are you talking about being peaked (haha ) or the workings of the Internet?

Of course you haven't heard about the numerous data breaches. MN deleted a few threads which mentioned their incompetence - and it really was incompetence. Complete failure to adhere to basic standards of data protection not because they were hacked by some dastardly and clever techie.

Anything you post on the internet whether under a pseudonym or not is there for good and can be googled many years down the line - it's why I tell my children to be so careful online and why I very rarely share their photos (mostly in a very tightly privately locked down family group, though I did put DS1 in a twitter post recently - after asking his permission).

I googled my username and found all my TripAdvisor reviews :-)

@fawkesAgain2 now I understand it's all so bloody obvious and I feel so ignorant. I'm not old (40) but in the last generation not to have grown up with internet and smartphones etc but who have embraced using it as adults. I didn't consider myself particularly stupid about the internet, have privacy settings etc but these recent incidents I've experienced have brought me up a bit about the enormity of the WWW and how actually clueless I am.
The entire reason started looking at my online footprint was because - a month on from it happening - I suddenly found out someone from MN could have shared my posts and info publicly. It scares me that this wasn't on my radar and don't understand why. The posts and articles are still there when linked to news stories but never came across my radar on my daily scroll on here .

Prime example - NC fail. Oh well

@fawkesAgain2 So true. Are you talking about being peaked (haha ) or the workings of the Internet? I'm not really sure what you mean by this ?

Technology's increasing / has increased at a far faster pace than ever seen before. We're about the same age but I have always worked with tech.

You're correct insomuch as people don't understand it but it is difficult for it not to be a part of your daily life whether ubiquitous technology or social media or what have you and there are few educated enough to understand.

There are people like you who had assumed that a public forum wasn't indexed by Google and then others who think a photo of your child on Twitter is breaching their human rights.

I remember a while ago a thread where someone on a blid date was scared that the date mentioned the dark web or deep web. Half or more of the posters thought that this meant he was selling drugs and into kiddie porn. Our secondary students are performing their production at the moment and it'll be live streamed on youtube. I'd imagine the thought of that will raise 'safeguarding red flags' with a few mn'ers.

@fawkesAgain2 it's interesting tho don't you think - I mean most of what I know about the internet is absorbed rather than info that is "out there" like a kind of "disclaimer when you use the internet " type thing if that makes sense. Things I'm slowly discovering by accident that I never considered to be a concern . And presumably it's the same for many or most of our age that don't have a tech background ? You're in a privileged position to understand the workings of a machine most of us use but don't think about very deeply.
I did think I was somewhat savvy - knew about privacy settings and sharing personal info that sort of thing. Probably way back those were the only real concerns but now there are so many social aspects too it that it is a new and not understood world.

x-posted.

I like the phrase 'peak-trans' but only because it tells me the user is a bit of (often totally) a cunt.

I understand that the idea of transness is incompatible with some people's ideology that despite a plethora of physical differences between the sexes - including the brain from about mid-gestation - any difference between the sexes mentally must be due to society and not millennia of psychological evolution. I get that debate is interesting even when ideology gets in the way of science. However, the very idea of 'peak-trans' shows nothing but ignorance. I've certainly peak-feministed' since the anti-trans invasion of MN and condoning of it by the mods.

I'm slightly confused by what's alarming you, as you knew about not posting personal info?

If you google your username then surely you don't find anything identifying? Am I missing something?

I'm nearly your age and have been using the internet since I was 16. Even at that age I knew not to put identifying info out there. Maybe try a bit harder to 'educate yourself' and your child?

I sneered at the younger generation who document their lives on Instagram and derided their recklessness and then had to check and remind myself of when I was 12 or 13 (we got the internet when I was 11 and having it at home was new) and used to go on webcam chatting to what I thought were teenage boys who, looking back, were most definitely paedophiles.

I don’t think there’s really any excuse in this day and age though. And from your post, I think you’d be really, really shocked in finding out just how much information about you is online.

I don't understand the use of "peaked?" I thought the OP meant "piqued," but spelled it incorrectly. As in, her interested had been piqued. Now I'm confused.

It comes from 'peak oil' ie something has reached the highest availability (or popularity, in other uses of the word) and is now in decline. Ppl use it to mean they've had enough of something

Years ago, being a liberal with strong views about LGB rights, I'd naively assumed that transwomen were vulnerable dysphoric men who'd had all the surgery. When I became aware that lesbians were being bullied into accepting "ladypeen" by aggressive transwomen and then, soon after, that about two thirds of those who identify as women remain fully male, are attracted to women and insist on being allowed in single sex spaces that were created by women for our privacy and safety, I hit a sort of mental wall.

Then I started analysing everything the extreme transgender movement were demanding.

I entirely support anyone wearing anything they like, presenting how they like, changing names, etc. But people can't change sex.

The expression "peak trans" signifies the moment when the total lack of reason and the reckless disregard of the safety of women and girls that characterize the trans rights movement hits you. I peak transed my DBs last weekend. It only took a couple of minutes.