self-search on internet

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExFlyBoy5 YI have an uncommon name and it's annoying how much stuff is out there about me. The only solution I can think of is having a very, VERY common name

When I divorced my late ex, I kept my married name. That last name is a short, very common English word. My maiden name was not. Anyway, it just makes it a little bit harder to find out about me through internet searches, because various irrelevant links come up that one must wade through.

Despite that, all the links that are actually about me come up too; they are just a little harder to find. Just about all of them are related to my job and my publications, from back when I was working.

None of them say things like "W2R sure is enjoying doing nothing at all during this, the tenth year of her retirement!"

[timo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bir48die It was never my intent to make a mark on the internet.

DW is the same way. She has no social media accounts whatsoever. No banking or otherwise. She just added a hospital log-in. That's it. And she showed up in the searches for her with all of the information she has avoided putting on-line all these years.

[Gumby]

I am fortunate to share a name with a famous Nobel laureate. When you put my name in a search box, you'll get pages upon pages upon pages of results about him. I am hidden in the chaff.

[Amethyst]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeborahB I am now married to my brother. Who knew? ..

Bwah-hah! My former married name (distinctive) is out there. Apparently she has lived in numerous towns in the state where my former spouse lives (AFAIK, since we haven't had contact for decades). And I supposedly have an *Unfavorable Court Record,* because Mr. A. and I were once sued by a tenant (who lost).

Gotta love data aggregator algorithms. Being based on SCIENCE, they must be right!

[Cobra9777]

I have a very common name. So googling it results in pages and pages of information about other people. Even adding my current town name results in very little.

It's been a while since I looked at mylife. IIRC, it was fairly accurate on most things, but flat wrong on some and incomplete on others. I assume most of that information is publicly available somewhere. So if someone wanted to dig hard enough, they could probably find it even if I had it removed from mylife.

[Ronstar]

I googled myself and found 10 pages of stuff on my name. Not all me, but probably at least 50% of the listings. The most troublesome was a 1968 newspaper page with an article about our 8th grade basketball team losing 63-39 with myself scoring 2 points. That's embarrassing.

[imoldernu]

.... found out I died in 1994.

who knew?

[sengsational]

Most of the information out there is from public records... nothing to be done. You might be "lucky" to have a common name.



Identity theft might cause a headache, but probably minimal chance of headaches if your credit files are locked. I'm trying to think of how someone could act as me, a realistic scenario, realistic motivation. They can't leverage my credit rating. Identity theft is about leveraging reputation of one sort or another. Someone could parade as me on a social network site, but why me when there are so many people that are juicier targets?


The there is hiding from either true or false impressions that a search would reveal. But who's searching that I care about what they think? I guess if you had something "bad", you'd want to minimize exposure, but if it's public record, it's out there and no way to put the genie back in the bottle.


As to 'privacy', I just wonder "who would be interested enough in me to care?" Let's say someone combs through the Internet and links a bunch of stuff together and emails and calls you to give you an accurate picture of your life, including visits to the gentleman's club or embarrassing web sites, for example. Please add other examples. Maybe, if you had less than a healthy relationship, you could be blackmailed? Would not work with most people, and so seems like a hard way to make money.


I'm just not seeing the case that your details being "out there" is a big problem.

[oldphd]

So I went and looked me up on mylife. Name is not totally unique or very common, but I'm confident that I found "me", and also looked up DW through my connection. A few things accurate.

But... my wife is driving a 37 year old car, which to the best of my recollection was totaled out about 19-20 years ago (not a bad accident, but the low end car at that age would total out with a flat tire and a half a tank gas). OK, I'll give them this one since all subsequent cars have been titled in my name.

But... I'm driving a 27 year old car which I got rid of about 4 years ago. There have been 4 cars since then in my name driven by me, DW, and kids. No sign of them.

Best of all, I discovered that my income is listed as almost 3 times what I ever made on my own, and almost double our biggest year ever as a couple. Would like to know how to go about collecting.

[Dtail]

Checked it out.
Information was somewhat dated. Listed as Married, used an address where I lived 7 years ago.

[sengsational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldphd Best of all, I discovered that my income is listed as almost 3 times what I ever made on my own, and almost double our biggest year ever as a couple. Would like to know how to go about collecting.

DW's income is listed as 5 times her highest pay and she hasn't worked outside the house in 30 years! They list my income as the same amount.


Before, I said all this info didn't matter, but if someone is deciding whether to sue you, they'll be like the cartoons with dollar signs in their eyes, hehe! Or if you were in a place where kidnapping/ransom was a problem. But I wonder if criminals trust those figures. It seems like much of the info is public records, but it's mixed with wild speculation.

[Car-Guy]

OMG, I spent 20 mins searching and didn't find anything. I found several others with the same name but nothing exact/specific on me. Several obits, but I'm still breathing. A few others with the same name but they live in in other states. I guess I don't exist.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational DW's income is listed as 5 times her highest pay and she hasn't worked outside the house in 30 years! They list my income as the same amount.

I suppose it can help too. One of the credit card companies that I have a credit card with wanted me to verify my income when I logged in to their web site for some other reason. They showed my income as three or four times any income I've ever seen. No wonder they had my credit limit so high!

I didn't bother to change it.