Internet Privacy - Information about you may be available online?
Posted
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 12:36 AM
by
hwaldron
Our privacy is something that we need to safeguard while on the Internet. Many companies will automatically scan in publicly available information from a telephone listing or other sources. You may be able to opt out in some cases, but once something is published to the Internet, it can also be difficult to remove.
You can try some of the following privacy tests for yourself on Google, Yahoo, MSN Live, Switchboard or other search facilities:
1. Your name (with and without spaces) and other family members
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Harry+Waldron
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrywaldron
2. Your telephone number
(format: xxx-xxx-xxxx)
3. Your street address
(street only or full address)
4. Your email address
(full or just the name portion)
5. Your SSN
(with and without dashes - hopefully zero hits)
6. Your birthday MM/DD/YYYY
(most likely you won't get hits on yourself, but it's neat to check for historical events)