Real names
Much has been said--quite eloquently and very true!--about Google+'s "real name" policy and why it's an incredibly bad idea for gays and lesbians, minorities, transgendered, liberals in conservative states, conservatives in liberal states, and anyone else with a potentially unpopular opinion. But can I also point out another post you don't want to make with your real name?
Hi, I'm going to be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras this year. Can anyone recommend a quiet hotel, outside of the party central zone?Thanks!
Nothing wrong with that, right? Nothing to offend your mother, your employer (assuming you asked for vacation time), or your minister.
Except...your real name, right? With a profile that says you live in X city, Y state. Which gives a nice quick lookup for your phone number and address. After you've just told the world that you'll be away from home on or around February 21, 2012. I wonder if you got anything good for Christmas--maybe I should go look.
Some sites--Slate.com, for instance--are requiring login from some higher authority in an effort to combat spam and trolling. GMail is one of their options, and if the real name jazz is perceived to work (whether it actually works is irrelevant) more will follow suit. So even if you don't post your vacation plans on G+ or restrict the entry when you do, you could easily wind up using your GMail/G+ identity on a travel website, asking for that aforementioned hotel recommendation. As a computer programmer, I estimate that it would take me two or three days to write a program to mine travel websites, find vacation dates, track them back to "real name, city, state" and get an address. Another day or two could refine that to only spit out addresses in rich neighborhoods more than 10 miles from me and less than 100.
Mind you, I'd make a lot more money selling the app to thieves than by stealing your low-resale-value stuff.
Hi, I'm going to be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras this year. Can anyone recommend a quiet hotel, outside of the party central zone?Thanks!
Nothing wrong with that, right? Nothing to offend your mother, your employer (assuming you asked for vacation time), or your minister.
Except...your real name, right? With a profile that says you live in X city, Y state. Which gives a nice quick lookup for your phone number and address. After you've just told the world that you'll be away from home on or around February 21, 2012. I wonder if you got anything good for Christmas--maybe I should go look.
Some sites--Slate.com, for instance--are requiring login from some higher authority in an effort to combat spam and trolling. GMail is one of their options, and if the real name jazz is perceived to work (whether it actually works is irrelevant) more will follow suit. So even if you don't post your vacation plans on G+ or restrict the entry when you do, you could easily wind up using your GMail/G+ identity on a travel website, asking for that aforementioned hotel recommendation. As a computer programmer, I estimate that it would take me two or three days to write a program to mine travel websites, find vacation dates, track them back to "real name, city, state" and get an address. Another day or two could refine that to only spit out addresses in rich neighborhoods more than 10 miles from me and less than 100.
Mind you, I'd make a lot more money selling the app to thieves than by stealing your low-resale-value stuff.