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Seriously? Anyone who uses the internet at all knows that searching names is likely to turn up multiple people, especially for common names like the author's. I

Seriously? Anyone who uses the internet at all knows that searching names is likely to turn up multiple people, especially for common names like the author's. I don't really see how this is a problem. Should the phone company be liable if you look up someone by name in a phone book at it turns out they're a prostitute when people call them up?

epochwolf 17y ago
Do I really need to point out the "facebook login" incident again? A lot of people trust computers and assume they are magically correct. Example: THE DATABASE is magically and completely up to date in every detail. Just try getting incorrect information changed in a database some time. People trust computers way more than they should.
- zackattack 17y ago
  What was the "'facebook login' incident"?
  - jmah 17y ago
    A ReadWriteWeb article started becoming the first result when Googling for "facebook login", and the comments were filled with confused people who think they're accordingly on (the "new") Facebook. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1119184 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1119184
- andyking 17y ago
  In Britain, an advertising campaign for keeping your TV licence up to date carries the slogan: "It's all in the database". I don't own a TV, yet regularly get threatening letters from their "database" saying "we know you're watching TV" and "we said we'd call". Meh. (The government here seems to like this sort of thing. A recent long-running radio ad campaign went along the lines of "pay your car tax... you can't escape the computer". No, really.)
steveklabnik 17y ago
Yeah, but a lot of people don't. My really mild mannered cousin got her Facebook hacked a while back, and the person who did it wrote really offensive stuff on all of her friends' walls. My family acted like it was the worst thing that could have happened, that her reputation was ruined, that I shouldn't bring it up to her because she was probably sensitive about it, etc. Of course, all of her friends knew she wouldn't say anything like that, so it was really a non-issue overall.

epochwolf 17y ago

Do I really need to point out the "facebook login" incident again? A lot of people trust computers and assume they are magically correct. Example: THE DATABASE is magically and completely up to date in every detail. Just try getting incorrect information changed in a database some time. People trust computers way more than they should.

zackattack 17y ago
What was the "'facebook login' incident"?
- jmah 17y ago
  A ReadWriteWeb article started becoming the first result when Googling for "facebook login", and the comments were filled with confused people who think they're accordingly on (the "new") Facebook. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1119184 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1119184
andyking 17y ago
In Britain, an advertising campaign for keeping your TV licence up to date carries the slogan: "It's all in the database". I don't own a TV, yet regularly get threatening letters from their "database" saying "we know you're watching TV" and "we said we'd call". Meh. (The government here seems to like this sort of thing. A recent long-running radio ad campaign went along the lines of "pay your car tax... you can't escape the computer". No, really.)

steveklabnik 17y ago

Yeah, but a lot of people don't. My really mild mannered cousin got her Facebook hacked a while back, and the person who did it wrote really offensive stuff on all of her friends' walls. My family acted like it was the worst thing that could have happened, that her reputation was ruined, that I shouldn't bring it up to her because she was probably sensitive about it, etc. Of course, all of her friends knew she wouldn't say anything like that, so it was really a non-issue overall.