Type Safely.
My last article may have been a little too righteous. I was getting on a rather high horse, but it’s one I don’t ever want to come down from. I believe there is no such thing as being too righteous when it comes to personal safety. I grew up in a big city. I live in a city that many consider dangerous. There are things that happen in certain places that are best avoided, and most of us agree on what they are. There are certain things you shouldn’t do (like leave your keys in the car, even when you are dumb enough not to lock it), and again, most of us agree.
It surprises me that people don’t carry over that same common sense when they are moving about online. A co-worker forwarded me a spam-message claiming he had won a foreign lottery (without ever entering the drawing, imagine that) and asked if people ever fall for those scams. The answer is simple: There is an idiot born every minute. And while you and I may not respond to requests from foreign government officials in exile wanting our bank account numbers, we do equally silly things. I’ll be the first to admit, I do them too and I should know better, I’ve been putzing around online long enough. It’s entirely too damn hard to keep track of what piece of information you give about yourself in what place… But we have to remember, someone will connect the dots given that the incentive to do so is big enough. Call me paranoid, fine with me.
Putting your cell-phone number on a public web site. Not very smart. Giving out your location other then in vague generalities. Not so smart. Tell me have you ever done this: Putting your full address on someone’s (or your own) Frappr map? Jay Finelli did! You may not know him and neither did I until today, but you can find his address. And since he is the host of a religious podcast, someone, someday may have some beef with him. If you are boasting on your blog about your new Ferrari, you better make sure that the street sign doesn’t show in the pictures, or tomorrow your Christmas present may be gone. Call me Paranoid, fine with me.
I have of course no proof of a Ferrari ever being stolen after a picture of it was posted online, but how far fetched is it really? We use the internet every day, what makes you think criminals and lunatics don’t? Serial killers use the internet, here is an example. The good news of course is that it works the other way around as well. While it’s a slap in the face to your civil liberties that your internet usage can be so easily traced, nobody would argue that finding a serial killer is a violation of anyone’s privacy. Sorry buster, you start killing people and your privacy goes out the door.
But we have to remember that, while the good guys are using the internet to track down the bad guys, the bad guys are using the internet looking for their next victim. Righteously paranoid.