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Add your first name & picture to your profile please - what do you all think?

First name and Picture on your account - your opinion.

  • Yes, first name and picture is ok.

    Votes: 88 56.4%
  • Yes, first name but no picture

    Votes: 41 26.3%
  • Yes, picture only, no first name.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No thanks. I'm just not comfortable with this.

    Votes: 25 16.0%
  • I have another idea - posting about it.

    Votes: 2 1.3%

  • Total voters
    156

Susquatch

Ultra Member
Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
I'm a bit late to this discussion, but I want to add my two cents anyway.

I am in the camp that says the less personal stuff provided here the better. I have managed forums, websites, and databases for many different organizations. In one case, the org wanted as much granularity about our traffic as possible. This was a small Ontario only group of retirees. 98% of the web traffic was from countries like Russia, China, Malaysia, Africa, India, and the middle East. That's total traffic, not just visitors. Why do they need our info? It sure isn't curiosity!

My mother was scammed out of thousands of dollars recently. We are virtually certain that she was targeted through her use of social media. They knew way too much about her.

As much as we can all quote problems we have seen. You ain't seen nothing yet! Viral software has already penetrated more computers and servers than we know of. Your own computer might be busy hacking your banking info, or your access to your employers system. Ransomware is rampant and a growing threat. Even the pros can't stop them.

Organized crime groups are giving away the software tools to crooks around the world to hack your computer to hold you and your data ransom. They do this to get a cut of the proceeds. Their agents don't need to be expert hackers. They just need to join the organization group and get a kit.

I prefer anonymity and I'm very careful about what info I give to who. Is that good enough? Probably not. But I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.

A small comment about trusting Lee Valley. I do. They are a great company. But they are also a big vulnerable company. These Ransomware outfits can EASILY hack their system and get YOUR info no matter what Lee Valley's intentions are. Then what?

My own info as well as my favorite passwords are all on the dark web right now. Linked-In, the Ontario Life-Labs testing org, the major credit rating organization, and numerous other major organizations have all been hacked, and my own data was stolen and posted on the dark web for any and all crooks to use. I've changed most of my passwords since then and I've completely revised my password system so none are duplicated anywhere and none are simple.

Nonetheless, I continue to get a steady stream of emails, phone calls, and even snail mail demanding that I pay to get my data back or some similar crime.

CRA and the RCMP are also using the dark web and social media for their own purposes. None of which any of us would like... .

Ya, you ain't seen nuthin yet...... But you soon will. Of that I am certain.
 

Gordie

Active Member
I'm a bit late to this discussion, but I want to add my two cents anyway.

I am in the camp that says the less personal stuff provided here the better. I have managed forums, websites, and databases for many different organizations. In one case, the org wanted as much granularity about our traffic as possible. This was a small Ontario only group of retirees. 98% of the web traffic was from countries like Russia, China, Malaysia, Africa, India, and the middle East. That's total traffic, not just visitors. Why do they need our info? It sure isn't curiosity!

My mother was scammed out of thousands of dollars recently. We are virtually certain that she was targeted through her use of social media. They knew way too much about her.

As much as we can all quote problems we have seen. You ain't seen nothing yet! Viral software has already penetrated more computers and servers than we know of. Your own computer might be busy hacking your banking info, or your access to your employers system. Ransomware is rampant and a growing threat. Even the pros can't stop them.

Organized crime groups are giving away the software tools to crooks around the world to hack your computer to hold you and your data ransom. They do this to get a cut of the proceeds. Their agents don't need to be expert hackers. They just need to join the organization group and get a kit.

I prefer anonymity and I'm very careful about what info I give to who. Is that good enough? Probably not. But I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.

A small comment about trusting Lee Valley. I do. They are a great company. But they are also a big vulnerable company. These Ransomware outfits can EASILY hack their system and get YOUR info no matter what Lee Valley's intentions are. Then what?

My own info as well as my favorite passwords are all on the dark web right now. Linked-In, the Ontario Life-Labs testing org, the major credit rating organization, and numerous other major organizations have all been hacked, and my own data was stolen and posted on the dark web for any and all crooks to use. I've changed most of my passwords since then and I've completely revised my password system so none are duplicated anywhere and none are simple.

Nonetheless, I continue to get a steady stream of emails, phone calls, and even snail mail demanding that I pay to get my data back or some similar crime.

CRA and the RCMP are also using the dark web and social media for their own purposes. None of which any of us would like... .

Ya, you ain't seen nuthin yet...... But you soon will. Of that I am certain.
There's a lot of truth in Sasquatch's post. I haven't been hit yet, so maybe I'm - what's the word - dumb.
 

boilerhouse

Ultra Member
I also agree with Sasquatch's post. A personal photo is a big no for me. First name info is probably OK if you happen to have a fairly generic first name. However, I would like a person's location. I can't tell you how many posts I have read on this forum and others where the first question that pops into my mind is "OK, but where do you live?" (I have never wondered OK, but what do you look like?, or what is your real name?) It does not even need to be a town or city, just a general region; like Nova Scotia, or southern Alberta. I have mine listed as Muskoka, a fancy way of saying central Ontario.
 

terry_g

Ultra Member
A family member that in also a member of the police told me all someone
needs steal your identity is your full name and birth date.

I went on a website and took an ex partners picture and used it to have her
served with legal documents. The following day all the employee's pictures
were removed.
 

Susquatch

Ultra Member
Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
I would be willing to add my general location if I could figure out how to do that.
 

6.5 Fan

Ultra Member
Premium Member
I won't be posting a pic for sure, my old phone doesn't play nice with my computer and i don't do internet on my phone. Had to get my daughter to bring her tablet to help me with my PAL renewal. :)
 

Marc Moreau

Marc Moreau
If somebody want to find you they will find the way to do it . Some hacker 's are very smart. What scare me more now is the new cart you just need to tap it . You don't need to make your personnel number on the machine. When I was going on my paramotor fly-in How could you reconize a guy like (Susquatch ) ??? you keep discussing with a man who have the same passion you have. I am not scare to say my name when I was going on those place . But I respect what you say. But when I saw people on Facebook tell all there life this is someting I never do. Stupid people say we are going on 2 week vacation this is idiot so everybody know you will be out . That's a nice invitation to get robering. My english is not perfect but I hope you understand. Thank you
 

DPittman

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Yup your English is not perfect, neither is mine, but you don't need to apologize for it. I wish I could speak 2 languages. I love reading your posts.
 

Dusty

(Bill)
Premium Member
Hey Mark, your English is superior to my trying to read French from a corn flakes box. Always enjoy your posts and comments.

Fully agree with you on how easy it is to locate people and their information. I research genealogy mostly from the UK, and managed to take our family history back to my seventh great-grandparents.

Trust me when I say every human being leaves their footprint on this old earth. Just saying!
 
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Dabbler

ersatz engineer
A quick comment on photos... There's a reason mine is in profile. You would have no problem recognizing me at a meet-up, but no one could make ID from this or facial recognition has too few points to put me in a database.

It is also reduced resolution, which really messes up AI facial inverters.

This is my compromise on the preserving identity, and yet revealing a little of myself on this forum.
 

Susquatch

Ultra Member
Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
Hey Marc, I'll happily bare my soul and practice my horrible French. But that would be best done in PM's as others would be totally lost. But we could always have fun with them! Sometime I'll tell the story of my wife and I trying to get a map while driving through the country north of Quebec city.....

What scare me more now is the new cart you just need to tap it .

There is a better way with cards today. As scary as a phone app like "Google Pay", might be, it's tap feature for those phones that have it is absolutely AWESOME! When you use Google Pay to purchase an item you use the Tap feature just like you would with a bank card or credit card. However, google doesn't give the merchant your credit card! Instead it assigns the transaction to one of their own bulk cards so the merchant never sees your card. Google charges your card, gives you a receipt, and pays the merchant themselves. It's awesome!

But it gets even better. The phones tap electronics are WAY BETTER than your cards. The cards stop working after a while but the phone works from 3" away every time. It never fails.

If someone swipes your credit card they can rack up a bill.

If someone steals my phone, they can't get at it because they need my password or code. To use Google pay, they also need my thumbprint!

And if I really want to be ultra cautious, I can set Google pay up for txt authorization too.

The tap doesn't scare me anymore.

What really scares me is hackers getting their way into the back door of my computer from the internet.
 
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