As I tossed and turned Friday morning my phone went off. I answered to a voice I knew very well, it was Cyndi’s shrill voice. “Jeromy, can you give a presentation about online anonymity?” she asked. In my daze I agreed and then made the mistake of asking when. “Tonight.”
All day Friday I thought about the presentation and prepared for a group of internet savvy users. When I arrived at the venue, a church basement, I was greeted by a group of not-so-savvy internet newbies. Each had more years of life experience than I; however, all were new to the internet.
Most of my presentations are specifically tailored to the group. But this time I was forced to take my ideas and instantaneously mold them to the audience. This was a group of retired people new to internet use.
Online anonymity is something I don’t worry about. My cell phone is listed everywhere and personal information about me is scattered throughout cyberspace. I figured my real name and handle, “Sellsair” would make great examples. After the projector and laptop were setup I did a Google search for me.
I heard gasps and giggles from the crowd as I pulled up videos I made six years ago. My shoe size, favorite foods, and the car I drove ten years ago showed up under one of the searches. Potentially embarrassing videos and pictures of me projected on the church’s wall as I explained they were from many years ago.
Twelve years ago I made some derogatory remarks about a past employer. Their bonus structure was terrible which led me to blowing some steam using my real name. Luckily the company is no longer in business, but if I ever want to return to that industry I’d better hope those remarks don’t come up.
Skiptracing is the practice of tracking people, or skips, for collecting debts, repossessing cars, etc. Querying my name using a basic skiptracing website shows everywhere I have lived. Unluckily for me, my name is the only one in the country. In other words, I’m the only “Jeromy Patriquin.” I don’t know if that’s good or bad but hopefully nobody has a serious grudge against me.
Within minutes I was able to find my current address and phone number (not using the techtalk.localcomputerwiz.com website). I did a Google search for my name and matched it against possible addresses in the skiptracing utility. Logically, Athol and Phillipston were the only two that made sense. Looking up each address I found that my ex’s house in Phillipston had been foreclosed so that leaves Athol as the only logical choice.
Anonymity is something we shouldn’t expect. In fact, the internet was designed NOT to be anonymous. IP addresses leave a breadcrumb like trail showing our tracks. Even private browsing options used in most browsers leave traces of where we’ve been.
Forget about government tracking and Google keeping tabs on us. We should surf the web as if we’re being watched because the internet is not private. Information shared online and our browsing history should be treated as public knowledge. If it’s truly private or might be embarrassing don’t do it.
Online anonymity shouldn’t be taken lightly. Don’t think for one minute that the information will be temporarily online then disappear. Many times information is copied from one site to another. My techtalk website I use as a depository for all old articles is duplicated and reused without my permission all the time. Next time you enter information online make a conscientious decision whether it’s something you want to have floating around forever.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can text him directly at (978) 413-2840 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)