TBN Member Personal info obtained by Google!!??

[MossRoad]

Yeah. We have a county website that shows all the properties. If you click on a property, it lists the owners name and address and sometimes a phone number. You can also get all kinds of other information like school district, taxes, lot size, utilities, bus routes, demographics of the neighborhood, etc...

I was searching our family name a couple years ago and found that someone had scanned in the program for a play two of my sisters were in back in the 60's when they were kids. I also have found long lost relatives with different spellings of our last name and lots of information about them.

There are also all kinds of legal stuff out there, such as court appearances, lawsuits, anything to do with government dealings.

Amazing stuff. It is all there in public records for anyone to see. It is just now possible to search those public records from your house rather than going downtown to the courthouse and digging through piles of records. I don't like it, as it makes it easier for someone to dig up information about you. For example, I think people were disinclined to go to the courthouse to find out what their neighbors were paying for property taxes as they were concerned about being perceived as a snoop. Now you can do it from your living room and no one knows you are looking.

 

[California]

... and that's why I chose this screen name. Anonymity by being lost-in-the-crowd.

I just Googled on my real name, both the formal version and what I go by. The only hits were at my family website where I'm posting genealogy stuff that I intend will be found by interested relatives. Plus one charity gift, and one photo credit where I had asked that my work be attributed to me.

My last name isn't common so I only found two hits for others of like name, neither one close. One was a minor English author more than a century ago and the other was buried in a Danish genealogy (not my background).

I've previously found magazine subscriptions and other obvious stuff, but didn't see that this time. I suppose you have to look in the specialized person-tracer sites or reverse directories to locate that stuff now. I'm sure its out there.

I posted on the Internet under my own name 1995 through about 2003. (and Fidonet for the decade preceding that). Then some idiot put my email address in the 'reply-to' field, matched with random different 'from' names, into a huge batch of spam. I suddenly got 10,000 bounce messages that 'my' email was undeliverable, addressee unknown at the destination ISP, from ISP's literally all over the world. Plus a half dozen rude personal replies. I've chosen to be anonymous since.

 

[Bird]

If I Google my first and last name, I find a couple of old tractor sites I'd forgotten about even joining, and they still show an address (just the town) from which I moved 5 years ago.

 

[Podunkadunk]

I had a nice Bio on TBN, pics and stuff too. I got rid of them a few weeks ago. Sure, anyone can get info on anyone if they dig a little...I figure I'll make him at least have to go get a shovel. I'm not going to make it convenient. Heck, only 2 people on TBN know my real name. I'd like to keep it that way, nothing personal, but if I want you to have it, I'll PM you with it.

Also, most people don't think about this, but in the county you live, or maybe a county where you lived for a long time, then moved; Deeds, liens, marriage certificates, divorce papers, mortgage papers, etc. are up on the clerk of the court's website or other county (public info) link. Most counties are safeguarding the info these days, BUT, I have seen several documents that had my SSN on it . I contacted the clerk and they removed (blacked out) my SSN and then reposted the document.

Check around guys...it happens.

Podunk

 

[California]

I think safeguarding your SSN is a lost cause.

Ever heard of CALPERS? Largest pension fund in the country. They recently sent out an informational mailer with each member's SSN printed above the address.

 

[Podunkadunk]

I think safeguarding your SSN is a lost cause.

Well that may be...but I dang sure ain't going to make it easy for anyone...they'll have to work for it.

 

[jdbower]

Well that may be...but I dang sure ain't going to make it easy for anyone...they'll have to work for it.

Actually you're better off protecting your SSN rather than hiding it since you can never know ALL the places your SSN appears. Take a look at a service called LifeLock, all they do is free stuff you can do yourself by calling the various credit agencies. I've got it set up so anyone setting up an account in my name will result in a phone call for me to confirm. Hopefully I never have to find out if it will work There are other services, but many of them are from the credit reporting companies who are a cause of the problem they're solving, like using Andersen for SarBox compliance...

 

[texasjohn]

In Texas you can't even get a hunting license without giving your social security number... theory is that there are dead beat dads out there and they can be located by picking up on where they purchase hunting licenses and made to pay child support...

It's the law in Texas... and, since there are lots of places where you get hunting licenses, many people behind the counter are less than of sterling character, you are simply giving them all the goods required to steal your identity... a high price to pay for a hunting licence.

I wish there were a way to "start new" with a new social security number, name, and all..... for security sake.... but, that doesn't seem to be possible... at least legally