This past spring a scary thing happen to me, a journalist student found my home telephone number. Nowhere do I list my home phone number, I always use my cell phone number if I have to give out my phone number and my business cards only have my cell phone number. I don’t list any personal information on Facebook, no phone numbers, no city, no street address, just my Yahoo email address.
However, when you are an activist, you give interviews, you testify, your bio get posted for speaking engagements… you become public. All those bit and pieces can lead a person to your front door. I joke about “Google sees all, Google knows all.” But it is true, it does. Even writing this puts me at risk, by putting the pieces of the puzzle together you can find me.
The internet has shrunk the world back down to a village where everyone can know what everyone else is doing. It has made the world a backyard fence to gossip over. I wish I knew this when I started to become active, I would have been more cognizant of what information that I gave out.
I wish I had realized this, too.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow. I think that would have scared the crap out of me.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, though. I did some Googling on my own one day to see what all is out there about me and... well... more than I would have thought possible is easily obtainable if you ask the right questions.
It's very scary.