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When a person submits their email for free Wifi at a place with Zenreach, they pull from databases and build a profile on the person. I don't know which servic

When a person submits their email for free Wifi at a place with Zenreach, they pull from databases and build a profile on the person. I don't know which services provide this or how they gather data, but the thought of anyone being able to download a detailed file on you with only an email or phone number is scary.

squarefoot 9y ago
A few months ago I did a Google search for my name as i do once or twice a year just to see what comes out. This time I had mixed reactions because among first results there was full text taken from a scanned old magazine dated 1978 or so with my name complete with street address. That was long before the Internet was publicly available and having such data into a magazine would not hurt anyone because people expected it could be useful to get in touch with others with similar interests (electronics in this case), and it surely worked for me because I got a free subscription and some job offers which I would have gladly accepted if I wasn't only 12 years old:) But nearly 40 years have passed, the ubiquitous magazine called the Internet is read by anyone for free, and having your address and/or personal data there isn't that safe anymore. Luckily I relocated a few times since, but what if I didn't? Technically speaking it's great to see an old magazine brought back to life, but what about unfiltered personal information one would expect to remain buried that will instead remain available forever in other contexts? I'm not bashing Google's bots crawling around to turn anything into searchable data, and I surely would never ever want laws to limit what can be searched, but pay attention if you shared personal data on printed material because if until yesterday we said "everything you put on the internet stays there forever", today there is more.
- leonroy 9y ago
  As a company director since the age of 15 I’ve had my personal address publicly listed for quite a while now. Prior to that there were phone books and whilst you could choose to be delisted clearly a lot of people didn’t since the books were so thick! I thoroughly agree that privacy is important but I don’t think people ever really minded very much or if they did not enough to do something about it like lobby for laws to ensure personal addresses are not disclosed publicly.
- widforss 9y ago
  What's the reason for keeping your address a secret? Genuinely curious, as where I live (se) almost all peoples addresses are public information, and it's really practical.
  - EADGBE 9y ago
    Lookup address-by-name seems much more damning than lookup-name-by-address. Much less is to be assumed about you, like just your name. Versus the country you live in, state/province/territory, city/village/township, neighborhood, etc.
  - bertil 9y ago
    Addresses can be used for authentication—it routinely is in the UK where I live now. There are also possible physical safety issues, especially in a country like the US were people seem to have guns and are willing to use them. I miss Sweden’s transparency and widespread’s trust.
  - huhtenberg 9y ago
    > it's really practical To what end? I can't think of a situation when someone might need my address and not being able to get it from me directly.
  - dredmorbius 9y ago
    33 bits. Information is a force multiplier, not power itself (Francis Bacon was wrong.) https://33bits.wordpress.com/about/ https://33bits.wordpress.com/about/ It takes only 33 bits of distinctive information to identify a given person. Specific information about a person, including background, can help provide further information on them -- it tells you where to look (and more importantly, a very good idea as to where not to), who to talk to, and what they might have done. "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged." - Cardinal Richelieu (a/k/a Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac) "the forced revelation of information makes individual privilege and power more important. When everyone has to play with their cards on the table, so to speak, then people who feel like they can be themselves without consequence do so freely -- these generally being people with support groups of like-minded people, and who are neither economically nor physically vulnerable. People who are more vulnerable to consequences use concealment as a method of protection: it makes it possible to speak freely about controversial subjects, or even about any subjects, without fear of harassment." https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/WegYVNkZQqq https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/WegYVNkZQqq (Yonatan Zunger is the former chief architect of Google+.)

squarefoot 9y ago

A few months ago I did a Google search for my name as i do once or twice a year just to see what comes out. This time I had mixed reactions because among first results there was full text taken from a scanned old magazine dated 1978 or so with my name complete with street address. That was long before the Internet was publicly available and having such data into a magazine would not hurt anyone because people expected it could be useful to get in touch with others with similar interests (electronics in this case), and it surely worked for me because I got a free subscription and some job offers which I would have gladly accepted if I wasn't only 12 years old:) But nearly 40 years have passed, the ubiquitous magazine called the Internet is read by anyone for free, and having your address and/or personal data there isn't that safe anymore. Luckily I relocated a few times since, but what if I didn't? Technically speaking it's great to see an old magazine brought back to life, but what about unfiltered personal information one would expect to remain buried that will instead remain available forever in other contexts? I'm not bashing Google's bots crawling around to turn anything into searchable data, and I surely would never ever want laws to limit what can be searched, but pay attention if you shared personal data on printed material because if until yesterday we said "everything you put on the internet stays there forever", today there is more.

leonroy 9y ago
As a company director since the age of 15 I’ve had my personal address publicly listed for quite a while now. Prior to that there were phone books and whilst you could choose to be delisted clearly a lot of people didn’t since the books were so thick! I thoroughly agree that privacy is important but I don’t think people ever really minded very much or if they did not enough to do something about it like lobby for laws to ensure personal addresses are not disclosed publicly.
widforss 9y ago
What's the reason for keeping your address a secret? Genuinely curious, as where I live (se) almost all peoples addresses are public information, and it's really practical.
- EADGBE 9y ago
  Lookup address-by-name seems much more damning than lookup-name-by-address. Much less is to be assumed about you, like just your name. Versus the country you live in, state/province/territory, city/village/township, neighborhood, etc.
- bertil 9y ago
  Addresses can be used for authentication—it routinely is in the UK where I live now. There are also possible physical safety issues, especially in a country like the US were people seem to have guns and are willing to use them. I miss Sweden’s transparency and widespread’s trust.
- huhtenberg 9y ago
  > it's really practical To what end? I can't think of a situation when someone might need my address and not being able to get it from me directly.
- dredmorbius 9y ago
  33 bits. Information is a force multiplier, not power itself (Francis Bacon was wrong.) https://33bits.wordpress.com/about/ https://33bits.wordpress.com/about/ It takes only 33 bits of distinctive information to identify a given person. Specific information about a person, including background, can help provide further information on them -- it tells you where to look (and more importantly, a very good idea as to where not to), who to talk to, and what they might have done. "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged." - Cardinal Richelieu (a/k/a Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac) "the forced revelation of information makes individual privilege and power more important. When everyone has to play with their cards on the table, so to speak, then people who feel like they can be themselves without consequence do so freely -- these generally being people with support groups of like-minded people, and who are neither economically nor physically vulnerable. People who are more vulnerable to consequences use concealment as a method of protection: it makes it possible to speak freely about controversial subjects, or even about any subjects, without fear of harassment." https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/WegYVNkZQqq https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/WegYVNkZQqq (Yonatan Zunger is the former chief architect of Google+.)