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Important warning!!!!


Bill H.

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On 4/4/2003 7:54:10 PM Bill H. wrote:

A map with directions to your home! THIS IS NOT A JOKE! Go to www.google.com site. Type in your full phone #. When this screen appears, go to the right side and click on mapquest or the other and a map with directions to your house will appear!!!

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I sometimes think people get too bent out of shape over stuff like this. This is no worse than somebody looking up my name in the phone book and getting a paper map out to look for my house. Believe, if somebody is determined to look for you, they will find you, whether they do it over the internet or the old fashioned way with paper maps and phone directories.

You should go and get an unlisted phone number if you are concerned about all this.

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There have been search engines like this available for at least the past 5 years.

A buddy of mine and I discovered this one day at work and didn't think that much of it.

Besides, Big Br... Oops, I mean, the gov't knows where you are anyway.

Peace, Josh

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As pointed out, all this info has been available for a long time via a phone book. There has long been an automated aspect. Someone can call up the phone company directory assistance to get subscriber address. At least here in Chicago, the CTA gives out nice maps for free and there is a street map in the front of the phone book anyway.

Experts have long suggested that we keep track of carbons from credit card receipts, least someone get ahold of the account number and a sample of your signature. Well enough. But employees of the many businesses you charge with have that info. I'll bet almost all employees are honest. It only takes one though. So I'm not particularly worried about someone fishing a carbon out of a trash can. It seems the least likely way someone is going to get the information.

Think about this: Would you give out your bank name, your account number, a sample of your signature and your address and phone number dozens of times a month? That sounds risky. But you do that every time you write a check. It's been going on for a century. When I write a check at the grocery store, they write down my driver license too.

I'll add a little story: Years ago, some criminal stole a big check payable to a construction company and then forged the endorsement. Then they deposited it into my account. I got a deposit receipt one morning in the office mail (the account had my office address for statements) saying that something like $5,000 had been deposited into my account, thank you for your deposit.

My bank was in the office building where I worked and I just called up downstairs and told them there had been some mistake. They said they'd check into it.

In the afternoon, the bank called me asking whether I not now remembered making the deposit because the check had been endorsed over to me and my signature was on it to make the deposit. Boy, I thought I'd lost my mind. But I told them this was impossible.

I met with an officer of the bank who showed me the microfilm record of the two sides of the check. It sure looked like my signature. Again they made the suggestion I had done this and it was my money. I had to insist this was not my money and I knew nothing about the payor or the payee. So they said they'd take care of it. The bank was baiting me, naturally.

Note, it is very easy to get money into an account, noone checks for identification, etc. Though recently I note banks ask for a signature if you ask for a checking deposit slip.

The rest of the story is that the criminal would have waited for the money to clear and then would ask for a cashier's check, and disappear. Of course I would have had a lot of questions to answer had I not reported it promptly. Probably, this could have worked except that the deposit receipt got to me very quickly because it went to the same building from which it was mailed. Maybe it was an inside job. On the other hand, all the critical information was on hundreds of checks I'd made out in the past few years.

So, it pays to be careful. You might well want to keep track of carbons and take yourself off directory assistance. Even bulk mailing lists. It is somewhat a joke that your college and highschool will have you on the alumni giving list for your lifetime. If you're ever lost on a desert island and have made a pledge to Whatsamatter U., don't worry, they'll find you.

Credit reporting agencies have a lot of "confidential" info on you and it seems like everyone in the world asks you to release it.

It seem just impossible to keep info out of public access. Computers are part of the problem but it has been going on for a long time.

Come to think of it, maybe I shouldn't use my real name on this bbs.

Gil

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"A map with directions to your home!"

The US Geological Survey has sat. photos online of your home. Zoom out to find your state, zoom in a bit to find your city, zoom in some more to see your house (and car) and people walking by.

These are old, old, old, photos (you can tell from the cars).

But...

Think about how much better the hardware is today.

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Joke? LOL!!! Getting your name removed will not protect you. Even having a private e-mail like yahoo or netscape can reveal your identity if you are not careful.

I once got some vile e-mail from someone after I posted to a guestbook of a websight. He had a netscape email account but it gave enough info to reveal his real name and location. I sent him a satellite picture of his home. He got real humble and maybe wised up. Never heard from him again.

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It's like going to a grocery store or a store where you sweep your card through and no clerk checks your signature or even asks for any identification.

If you own a house or property, you can call the local County Clerk and find out the addresses, and if you go a step further, you can find if a person has any outstanding judgemenents or liens recorded against them. It's all public information.

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Bill,

Removing your adress from the phone book,on the net and even paying extra to have it all confidential will not help if the "boyz" are looking for someone.They can find anyone,in almost any country at will.Unless you are hiding in a bunker in the mountains where the spy satelite has not yet taken pictures or in a rain forrest desguised as Kermit the frog.

I am sure "big brother" has nice updated database with just about anyone inside.I for one thing am not alarmed,as this is nothing new.

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Years ago, when I was a persecuting attorney, my new bride was worried that the criminals who I made guests of the state would track us down and murder us in our beds. She wanted an unlisted phone number. I resisted, as I wanted friends to be able to call. We compromised by having our name, phone number and city, but no street address, in the phone book. If you ask for Disney in Birmingham, MI, you can call but you cant come over, unless I tell you where to go. If you were to type our phone number into the reverse look-up feature at www.infospace.com, you'd get our name and city but no street addresswhich suits me just fine.

Weve kept it that way ever since. There seems to be no good reason to list your street address in the phone book. If its someone you want to see, when they call, you tell them where you live.

If youre interested, we never received even a single crank call from a convicted felonand theyve got time to burnbut they dont burn in Michigan. No capital punishment. That was due mostly to the fact that your typical criminal has the attention span of a gnat. Despite the fact that my last name is Disney (not too hard to remember) none of the many criminal defendants so much as called to demonstrate his heavy breathing.

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