Protecting Privacy in Fandom

[godricgal]

Some of you know that before I became a poor, lowly student, I had a rather nice job with a software company that was attempting to deal with some of the problems surrounding personal privacy and data ownership on the 'net

Comments

[shimotsuki]

I want to thank you for this very timely post, especially from your perspective as someone who's worked in online security. I'm also very concerned about keeping my fandom identity completely separate from my RL identity, to the point that I'm trying to keep my RL name (even my first name only) from being posted on LJ, anywhere, even in f-locked posts... My worst nightmare is for my fandom identity to turn up as the result of a Google search on my RL name or other information, and the best way to stop that is to keep most of my RL information off fandom-related sites.

That said, I have been known to participate in an LJ community that displays IP addresses (logging them is one thing, displaying them is another thing entirely). I've been vaguely meaning to contact a mod and ask if they would mind shutting that display function off. Now your post has inspired me to do that sooner rather than later!

By the way, I love your new(?) layout, and I hope you're having a wonderful week off.

[mrstater]

That said, I have been known to participate in an LJ community that displays IP addresses (logging them is one thing, displaying them is another thing entirely).

For what it's worth, you can only see them in your own posts; but I don't like to think that when I review someone's story the author can see my IP address!

[shimotsuki]

Oh, thanks, that does make me feel a little better!

I still wonder if they'd be willing to shut that off if I asked very nicely...

[mrstater]

It would definitely be worth a shot, I don't like it either!

[godricgal]

I find it scary enough popping up on Google as it is, the thought of my LJ username being eternally associated with me is a terrifying thought. But thankfully, I think it doesn't take much to make that a very unlikely scenario. I think it's all a balance, making sure that information you do give out on LJ has no meaning outside of it. I used to keep my first name very quiet, but now it doesn't worry me, really, because it's just a label and not by any means unique, but it is certainly a clue that can be used to build up a bigger picture

[shimotsuki]

I find it scary enough popping up on Google as it is

Heh. I have to, for my job...at least in my academic field, Google is the first search tool anyone uses to find out who's working on a given topic. (I'm in the middle of a research-literature search just now, actually, as I try to plan my next three weeks of lectures, and I'm Googling all over the place.) There are certain specific searches you can do on my research topics where I'm in the first three to five hits, and that's great, because one of the criteria for getting tenure at a US university is "impact on the field". If my stuff doesn't show up in a Google search, it's that much less likely to get cited!

But clearly I don't want R/T angst (or other sensitive personal info) popping up amidst the publication references and project descriptions...*shudders* Likewise, if I ever start a blog for friends and family, which I've considered, you'd better believe that's going under yet another screenname that's different from both fandom and RL.

[godricgal]

Sorry, I forgot to reply to this...

By the way, I love your new(?) layout, and I hope you're having a wonderful week off.

Thank you! It's been up for a month or so, I think, but I've not posted much! Week off has been very nice, thanks. I've had a bit of work to do but nothing too taxing and all things I enjoy doing, so it's win-win. :)