I saw a post on Tumblr recently that had a Post Secret style image with words on it. The words were "I told a stranger on the Internet about my rape, but not my mother." Below that post was a link to an article about our strange senses of intimacy in this modern, interconnected world. That really struck a chord with me, because it shows how anonymity tends to equal safety in our minds, even though it doesn't.
This assignment really didn't surprise me much, except that you could find a house's value even when it wasn't on the market. I searched for the house I grew up in that was sold when I was 13, and found that it had nearly doubled in value in the last 9 years. That kind of information actually kind of scares me, because a smart scammer could see the house's worth, estimate how much a person's net worth is, and figure out a scam to sue them. If a suit is strong enough, the defendant could be forced to sell their home to pay the plaintiff. Of course, this would require a serious devotion to the scam, but I do have anxiety and jump to the worst conclusions. It's great exercise, but I wouldn't recommend it.
I also actually found myself on Pipl, though not in Missouri. Rather, the information I found about myself is two states ago, but it does link to many members of my family, even my deceased grandpa. My friends and I were early adopters of the Googling yourself thing, though, as we started in middle school newspaper class. Sometimes it's scary to think about your information, but I usually Google myself every six months or so to ensure the information is good information.
When I typed my phone number in, the area where I originally bought the phone came up, but the address the website (Number Panda) had was clearly wrong, even though they only showed "xxxxx xxx Blvd" because I have never lived on any street called a boulevard. That doesn't worry me, but the amount of sites offering information about phone numbers does make me a little uncomfortable.
The fact that this information is available from searchable sites is scary enough, but when I think about what could be found with better than average hacking skills and worse than average morals, I get overwhelmed with the desire to go full on Hermann Hesse and move to a tiny mountain village.
But what I find really interesting is our concept of anonymity with technology. My favorite website, Tumblr, has an anonymous message option. People often use it to ask their favorite blogs for emotional support without having to associate their name with their question or request. Of course, some people also use it to harass people, but I like to see the good in people. Internet message boards provide relative anonymity for people to seek help, and that can be a great thing for those experiencing mental illness symptoms or dealing with an abusive relationship. On the other hand, people reuse usernames, and a quick Google search could bring up more identifiable information from the same username on a different site.
Still, I see the good in the Internet. While yes, there are horrible things happening, the Internet also allows protesters to get out their message without media censorship, it creates a space for survivors of horrible violations to comfort each other, it allows us to learn from people we have no chance to meet.
We all need to be careful, but don't we anyway?
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