i recently cut and pasted from a users profile.. it had his e-mail address in it.. i cut and pasted his e-mail into a google search.. i had found a few post from him in other public forums.. i cut and pasted a couple into here. (i was researching to see if he was who he said he was) none of that information was private. as he had posted all of it in public forums. does this constitute a breach of sciforum rules? rules say no posting of PRIVATE information.. (he did post his phone number in another forum, i choose not to post that here) this needs discussion as to what constitutes public information, and what constitutes private information.. (if i were to do this again, i would keep it in PM)
In the final analysis, it's solely the responsibility of the individual. If he wants to post his email address, home phone number, home or work street address, social security number, or whatever, he does so at his own peril. But I don't think another user should EVER copy/paste ANY of that anywhere. Some search engines have made it into the PM section of some forums. There's no such thing as "perfect security" online.
i would agree with these as being private info,whether they post it in a public place or not.. how bout age and hobbies? would that be considered private info?
Again, that would be up to the individual. For me personally - and the majority of people - no, we wouldn't consider that private. Some people, primarily women I'd guess, would not want their age disclosed. And a few individuals might not want everyone to know about their hobbies, especially if they included making pipe bombs.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
WSJ has been running some articles on Internet and privacy. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558484075236968.html Most people assume the internet is private, and it most certainly is not. This is something that most people haven't yet come to terms with---while you're relatively anonymous here, SciForums logs your IP addresses, so in most cases we can see where you're posting from, down to the zip code. Social networking sites, like Facebook, transmit user details to advertising firms, google logs all of your internet searches, as well as your IP (just go to google and type in Chinese Food, and click on maps, and see which restaurants are listed---the top few should be near your house). Other "behavioral predictors" are also widely employed by google, yahoo, etc. --- http://www.ecrmguide.com/article.ph...tising-Must-Change-Says-Former-Yahoo-Exec.htm I tried to find a link but couldn't---there was a story on Bloomberg last week about a firm that uses internet search histories to predict whether someone is gay, to the benefit of marketing companies. All of this is not a priori bad, but you should keep in mind that what you say and what you do on the internet is, categorically, NOT private.
Meh... Privacy the stuff of legends. There is always going to be someone collecting some sort of information on you, you could drive up the road and have someone sitting there waiting just counting cars as a road census. (Obviously you would be an anonymous "1" in their count, but you've still been counted) In England we walk around in an environment where nearly everywhere that's "Public" has got a camera. The camera's are of course "Private", you can't see what they see or have seen, (In fact there is a query that could be placed here in regards to the Data Protection Act and the public's right to access to any data stored on themselves) Obviously the number of cameras can induce paranoia to some, others relish the potential attention (you could say they might even be more inclined to act up because the cameras are actually there) In fact the camera problem gets even worse with the advent of camera's on mobile phones and the internet in general, more "private" webcams spring up pointing out of windows aimed at traffic lights (roadcrossing and junctions)... just in case there is some accident, so someone can take the footage and upload it to youtube and brag about it on facebook before anyone else. (in the case of mobile phones there are hundreds of "stunts" that people pull, sometimes to try and make another party look like the antagonist, but heck they have a camera rolling which would suggest premeditation) As for your details online, there are hundreds of small companies and individuals that pretend to be companies that do not know how to handle data correctly, you'll find they might leak that information from time to time, or in the worse case scenario a reputable company is hit by corporate espionage whereby an employee decides that they either make too little at that company or want to exact revenge, they take a copy of the database and then attempt to sell it on the blackmarket. (We constantly here of how various government computers/laptops were "Lost" or "copies of databases" left somewhere where anyone could get their hands on it. These are just tip of the corporate espionage iceberg.) The simplest answer to any of your privacy concerns online is that if you feel too much information about yourself is out there and you can't remove it, you just have to start "running interference". This basically means start making up rubbish to junk all the reports, censuses and data entries applied across the web. Make their data so intangible that when two databases with seeming the same person are applied to one another they either look like there is two different people, or they reason that neither database can be trusted for reliability. (eventually their database will crumble over it's own weight of outdated and useless data)
NMS, You have already hears from two Moderators; how many would you like? In any case, you're in murky waters here, both with respect to the Site Rules and Regs, as well as with most Western Legislation. While you're correct that, strictly speaking, since the person did post their information online, it then became a matter of public domain, you have made the mistake of violating confidentiality. It was that person's choice to post the information; it was not however, that person who chose to redistribute that information. That dubious step was yours. I would tread more carefully in the future were I you...
All information on a member's public profile on sciforums is public. The member has absolute control over what personal information is visible there. That's where you crossed the line. You went looking for more personal information than the member had chosen to reveal here, then you posted that extra information here. A general principle in privacy law is that information is collected and stored only for certain purposes. Users of forums understand that what they post on that forum is public on that forum. They ought also to understand that it is publically accessible in general via search engines etc. However, it is wrong/unethical to take personal information submitted to one site and to repost it on another site without the owner's permission or knowledge. They chose to share their information in one place. They did not give permission for it to be used just anywhere for any purpose. Compare what happens when you sign up for an account or a service in most reputable places on the internet. Most sites have a published privacy policy, specifying exactly how your personal details will be used. For example, handing out your email address and name to other companies for marketing purposes is usually considered bad form, and most companies willingly undertake not to do so. To be on the safe side, I'd consider ALL personal information such as real names, addresses, phone numbers and even email addresses to be private, except where the member concerned has explicitly posted that information. of course, it is a bad idea for anybody to post their home address, phone number or even email address on a public forum such as this. Even posting an email address is likely to make you a target of spam. If you're silly enough to do it, then you can expect some consequences. However, when it comes to third parties reposting private information from other sources, sciforums tends to act to protect such information, especially where a complaint is made by the person whose information was posted (as happened in the present instance).
which two above that post are moderators? I'm not gonna call foul for this.(i would have if it was a ban..but i'll accept a slap on the wrist with promises of compliance for this).i just wanted to clarify the issue.. that is why i posted here in SF open Gov. i think its is in everyone best interest for such clarification.. exactly.. i agree with the name, address, phone number..(that's why i didn't post his phone no.) his e-mail was in his profile..i did not understand why he got upset with that, when he had it public..(i did delete that when he asked me to) and he had some..a user found it and posted it..Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! i figured that. like i said i am not calling foul here..i agree with the decisions that were made...did you fix the rules yet as per my PM to you? common knowledge isn't that common...(case in point) Glaucon..the rules only state: im not picking nits..but it should be in there.. i did not think it would be that big an issue since all the stuff i posted was available to anyone who wanted it..(specially the e-mail in his profile) but apparently i was wrong.. thank you for posting a response..it helps to clarify the issue.
NMSquirrel, On the actual subject of posting someones data up, perhaps they just didn't want you "drawing attention to the fact that their data was available". After all once the internet gets a whiff of data, it's almost impossible to purge completely. (In fact it's suggested data doesn't exist unless it exists as at least three copies in different physical locations)
