Pentagon Sets its Sights on Social Networking Websites

Don't delete the accounts. Instead, use them to taunt the NSA. Remember, Confucius say "Stick it to man where it hurts".

Joules - You'd be surprised what's being tracked and correlated already. They do it for politics. Check out an article I seeded to not too long ago. The article was written last year but it is an example of what "big bugger" can do to the information it has on you.

Just the though of Bin Laden having a buddy list.
I don't know how much money I would put to see an IM Chat with BinLaden223 and AMZarqawi3.

That would be so funny, it would be like that Twilight Zone episode...

Seriously, it scared the @!$%# out of me when I realized that anyone who looks at my facebook can see my politics, religious beliefs, favorite books and who my friends are.

And I use my real name on newsvine, a decision I've been rethinking of late.

You know, Mykola, I once decided to write a bio-article in response to your call for them. I decided to approach it from the perspective of "how much can I find out about myself online". I thought it would be a quirky way of going about it.

I found out so much about myself that I couldn't put the article up. It was really creepy. On the other hand, realizing how much of my life is already online gave me a peculiar sense of freedom...it's all already out there. Why worry about giving out too much information, anymore?

That's a really good point, Jason. Everything I put up online is there because I knowingly put it up, and with my name next to it. I don't really like the idea of "finally being free to be myself" online, behind a fake name. I am myself here, as I am in the "real world," with the possible exception that it's harder for me to get drunk and act a fool on newsvine than it is in the bar with my friends.

It still makes me nervous in a sense that this could be used against me - but really that nervousness is there as a holdover from the McCarthy days. I realize - and it scares me - that I could be called up and held accountable for expressing unpopular opinions online.

Also, it is interesting now because when you apply for a job you are likely to be googled. Nothing too incriminating is associated with my name in google yet, but I shudder when I think that a potential employer could one day stumble upon that atrocity of an AoD match I had with Phaedrus. That's one of my only regrets on here, to be honest.

So yeah, I hear what you're saying and this is going a little bit off course. The fact remains that more and more the internet and the Real World are overlapping. I like that people feel freer on the net, but I am more interested in people feeling free in real life. If this is a phase we have to go through to get people to interact, then so be it. I guess I like freedom.

That's why I use an alias. I try to never give out my real name or too much information about where I live and work. I don't have anything to hide really, but I am not going to make the assumption that I never will.

I've looked up information about myself on the Internet too. I found every address at which I have ever lived. That was kind of unsettling. Tracking my activity on the Internet using my alias will reveal to you what type of person I am. Tracking my real name will show you where I am and other things of public record. I'll do what I can to prevent people from tying the two together. I'm not a deviant but you never know who you are going to piss off by posting something that tramples on someones belief system.

That's why I use an alias.

I hear that. I've never used my real name as a username for similar reasons.

Over here, when you register a domain, it's registered directly to you. This means my address and telephone number are readily available to everyone.

I used to use an alias (Morgaine, or Morgaine LeFaye) but over time I felt more and more like using my own name. I still use Morgaine as it's too much of a hassle to change all those accounts.

See my article How To Make The Internet Safe. Those who are not ready to identify themselves on the Internet are either scared or have something to hide. There will come a day when anyone on the net will be readily identifiable. Until then the Internet will continue to have problems that are subdued in the real world. The real world is coming to the Internet in the near future.

See my article How To Make The Internet Safe. Those who are not ready to identify themselves on the Internet are either scared or have something to hide.

We should all have something to hide from certain people with access to the internet - those that are happy to collate your details and pretend that they are you for fraud purposes for one thing.

I'm happy to use my real name (my nick here is actually my real nickname and it's not exactly hard to find loads of details about me from my homepage link). I think that most people really should be more careful about how much they actually identify about themselves on a publicly-accessed service like the 'Net.

Oldfogey, yeah I have something to hide. Me! I'm not sure what you get out of calling me a coward or a criminal (I guess the world is so much simpler in black and white?), but I would just as soon keep my anonymity thank you very much.

I am not into arguing and I don't really mean to be calling anyone names. What I am trying to point out is that in the real world you have a name, address and most of us have some kind of reputation, good or bad. In the real world the people we communicate with or deal with on a regular basis know who we are and something about the real us.

The same thing should be true on the Internet. Until we know who we are dealing with in any communication we are subject to having problems because of the lack of knowledge. At the same time, people with unsocial intents can use anonymity to wreak havoc on the rest of society.

The Internet was developed as a way to transmit information rapidly and more economically than previous media. The fact that it also provides entertainment and is available to almost anyone who wants to use it, is a plus.

Almost any Internet problem you can name or think of, can be solved by making everyone on the Internet readily identifiable. I am not advocating the registration of every user. What I would support wholeheartedly would be the requirement by every registered site (already registered as a domain) that users of those sites be identifiable.

Those who want to remain anonymous could do so, they would just not be permitted to enter sites requiring identification. Actually it is that way now. The only difference is that I would like to see every public site require identification from their users.

Sorry I am going on and on. Didn't mean to do that. At the proper time and in the proper format I will continue to write about my views on this matter. I welcome others views as well. Differ from me, let me understand where you are coming from. Maybe you could change my mind about this. Maybe we could both or all learn something.

Thanks, for the response oldfogey. I suppose you deserve a better response from me. I'm not so objectionable to registering with a web site as long as they keep your information private. That way if you break the law, you can be found.

But openly sharing that information is asking for nothing but trouble from spammers, phishers and other nasty identity theft people. Registering a domain with your contact information invites much of the same nastiness.

A scheme like that would be analagous to gun control law. You are making everyone vulnerable except the criminal.

If everyone were identifiable, the criminals in this case would be also. In order to spam or phish a person would have to be identifiable. If they were known they wouldn't do it, would they. Most identity theft comes from the victims own friends and family. After that comes identity theft through hard documentation. Usually a clerk or servant using your credit card information.

The criminal would provide a falsified identity via those other means you mentioned.

Registering a domain with your contact information invites much of the same nastiness.

I must be lucky then, since my contact information is out there, name, address and telephone number, since a couple of years.

Identity theft is a problem, trying to be addressed by e.g. OpenID, LID, Yadis, Sxip, and others. I liked the article Identity 2.0, Trustless Redirects, OpenID, LID, and Friends...or, Learning to Spell 'Centralized'.

Those are merely URL identity systems. They identify you merely by the fact that you have trusted access to the identifying URL it has nothing to do with your personal information other than transferring it from your domain if you choose to associate that information.

It does provide a means for an honest user to be tracked back to a hosting service, but the user would have to have a hosting service to start with. A dishonest user can have their own hosted identity server, a hijacked URL or a stolen identity to start with. The article you linked, itself mentions these identity systems hold no purpose other than making authentication more convenient.

Since you have personal contact information tied to your URL, all I have to do is a WHOIS to get your name, phone number, and email address. I can have you on so many spam email lists, junk mail lists and phone lists of ill repute, I could make your life a living hell.

*breaks out tin-foil hat*
*disconnects internet connection*
*hides*

Spacegoat, I'm not saying these systems are the ultimate solution. Addressing identity problems is just in its infancy, taking baby steps.

It does have to do with my personal information though, in the sense that there might be thousands of Morgaines out there, with some of them stating things I absolutely don't agree with, and people perhaps thinking it is me.

The e-mail address listed is not my regular e-mail address, and the mobile phone number not my regular mobile number. It would certainly be very annoying if you would get me on those lists, but I doubt it would make my life 'living hell'.

Sorry Jason. I didn't mean to be threatening. Would you point out my offense? I'm unsure what you are referring to.

I too use a proxy service. My take was that oldfogey is advocating that everyone keep their personal information in their domain profile.

Oops, I see it now. Please don't take my comment to mean that I would do such a thing. My apologies if I gave anyone that impression.

For the record, I wasn't thinking you were actually planning on doing such a thing Spacegoat.

Point taken, but I wouldn't advocate ignorance of the risk as a means to avoid the risk. That information is available for anyone who wants to know, and everyone who is registering a domain should know about it.

Irma, that's why I believe in anonymity. Someone can sully my online name, but I could just change my moniker. I'm on pins and needles now so I won't say anymore. I'll just refer you to my original post and add that it's for my own security that I do this, not to hide any illicit activity as has been suggested.

You can call me scared, or paranoid, but I have been in the IT sector of the banking industry for 8 years. I'm not an expert on security, but I know enough to know that a little paranoia is a good thing.

You can call me scared, or paranoid, but I have been in the IT sector of the banking industry for 8 years. I'm not an expert on security, but I know enough to know that a little paranoia is a good thing.

What he says. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they're not out to get you ;)

Seriously, even with some simple information gleaned from your whois and other sources might be enough for someone to take out a loan in your name, start a bank account or do other fraudulent activities. Identity theft is a real problem, and although I'm happy enough to put out some information out there I'd be wary about giving too much away.

I don't find anonymity a problem at all.

Over here, when opening a bank account, you will need to show some ID, like your identity card, or passport. I'm not saying identity theft isn't a problem though.

Although I don't experience the need to be completely anonymous anymore, I can see how it might be recommended, even in a non criminal context. Say, for instance, you are a Muslim homosexual, hidden in the closet.

The Doppleganger isn't consistent. When you look at this article, it doesn't mention a related article. When you look at my seed, it refers to yours. When you look at Bunty's seed, it doesn't refer to another seed. When looking at Helpmeimpeachbush, that one mentions Djehuty's seed, and Djehuty's seed refers to Helpmeimpeachbush, and another seed, pointing to another article.

A couple of days I noticed the Seed pop-up mentioning to me the article I was trying to seed was already there. When following the link, instead of seeding, I was directed to another seed of mine, from the same site, but a different article. After that I decided to seed it anyway, as it wasn't a re-seed, but a different article.

I've noticed we have seeded the same article (but perhaps from a different source) quite often Jason.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about an article being on the Vine more than once too much. The only 'problem' I see is that perhaps the discussion is scattered over several seeds.

Ohmigod, that made my head hurt. Can't we just use pig latin, or something?