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nicholas carr

nicholas carr is well known for his controversial perspective on different internet topics. he sees a lost of privacy in the internet and predicts the transparent user in 2015, he blames users and governments of offering way too much information and not being aware of the danger. sometimes nicholas is a bit over the top, still i think he got some good points in his book and blog. i totally agree with him on the fact that people are not aware of the danger.

people-search-engines such as yasni provide already very good profiles about users of facebook, xing or flickr. by predicting patterns, connecting information, relating items and pictures it is easily possible to build profiles about people of interests. by having access to someones’ instant messenger it is possible to log status messages and online time and easily predict where and when someone will be. stalking was never easier. but is this dangerous?

libby hoeler - first internet video star

to give you and idea about the danger: in 2001 a home video of colleague student libby hoeler was made public; incl. her telephone number and address. soon stalkers were waiting in front of her house, she received calls from strangers and was sexual harassed. when she tried to disappear an internet chivvy started with thousands of internet users trying to find her. at the end she joined a witness protection program.

back then there was no facebook available. nowadays people know your friends and family, social connections, locations etc. with some information from facebook and some social attacks like phone calls it is pretty easy to find out much more information about you. and from my point of view it is pretty easy to drive you mad, resp. destroy your life.

people search engine yasni

this happened in case number two in the US. in 2008 lori meier and her daughter virtually bullied a student until she committed suicide. they set up a virtual character called josh to get in touch with the girl and used insider information to get her attached. when virtual josh ‘broke up’ with the girl she hang herself.

the described stories are a result of extreme criminal energy but show the potential risk. less tragic, but as well very controversy, is the story of james brennan from the UK who was fired for a comment on facebook. in this case colleagues collected private information in order to set him up. just think of everything you have ever watched, commented or stated on the internet (pictures, blogs, forums, etc) and imagine someone puts the pieces together.
there is not even a need for a complex collection of information, just imagine what you can do with a simple telephone number: post a VW Golf on mobile.de, price 1000 euro, with the phone number of your victim. believe me, the telephone will ring all day long. post it on an internet sex site and the phone will ring all night long.

it is easy to become a target and with nowadays information it is pretty easy to destroy a reputation. take care of what information you offer on facebook, google or youtube. sometimes a little less is a little more.