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| Word Art |
All like to believe that privacy is in their hands, and theirs alone. How old we are, where we live, our phone numbers---those are our property.
Even though that is our hope, it is false.
Twenty years ago, I had a student who disturbed me. Of all my 600 students, this boy still stuck in my mind and I wondered what he did with his life. He worried me, scared me. Serial killer, torturer, terrorist? So out of curiosity, I typed in his name and where he lived then.
My mouth dropped when Spokeo, BeenVerified, PeopleLooker, and other sites opened up much of his life. I stopped. Nothing I really wanted to know, but if I wanted more, I could have.
Then I typed my own name, and all these sites knew my life. Facebook? Blogger? History of addresses and phone numbers? What my general income might be? If someone who was searching for me, someone I really did not want to find me, what would I do?
This is the state of your privacy and personal information. Do not think for one moment that this can be changed. All that info started to accumulate with your birth certificate.
It might be nice to look at your own name and find out what the world knows about your life.
