I Googled my TBN name. Out of the first 30 results returned, only one is for me, and that was a TBN post back awhile. There is another dave1949 who is all over the place.
I don't participate in any other forums. I might tell people online how I enjoyed a trip somewhere, but I don't say when and where I'm going beforehand. With enough computer smarts, a person can get close enough to identifying a location to be able to visually figure out an address if they want to.
No, I don't walk around with a name & address tag on in public, but it wouldn't be at all unusual for people I interact with to ask which town around here I live in. There are internet services that will return the owner & address for a license plate. Done from a public computer such as a library or stolen smart phone using an anonymous payment method would be fairly safe. The vulnerability to know who and where you are is there already if people wish to exploit it.
The theft around here is mostly aimed at getting drugs, or something that can be easily sold/traded for drugs. There is the odd chainsaw or tool that walks away. Those are crimes of opportunity mostly, not planned by searching the internet. Another common target is summer camps during the off season. Okay, that's obvious, no one is around, the tracks in the snow or lack of them tells you everything you need to know.
Anyone driving down the road can see my tractor when I'm near the road. Who is going to bother to steal an 11-year-old CUT tractor anyways? Common sense is fine, but I think some of this identity vulnerability feeling is overdone for my particular location. It could be different in other places.
In general when we are to afraid to tell people who we are, the good guys aren't winning. I just don't like the idea of that.
