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Mac Cat · 07-11-2021, 03:41 PM

Every document you filed with a government agency is a public record. It starts with your birth certificate, your driver's license, your marriage certificate, your mortgage deed, college records, military records, business records, FFL, and especially obituaries (sorry, I've been writing more of those than I want to).

Most government agencies and even colleges sell your information or provide it on-line for free. While the IRS, SS and medical records aren't allowed to release personal information, it's out there already via other vendors who do require it. That information is sold and published, even without Google. You can track me just by my driver's license.

I still get junk mail addressed to my name, exactly how my college alumni association mis-spelled it 50 years ago !! I never even joined the alumni association. The great state of Georgia used to use our SSN for our driver's license number, as if that was a good idea. Then they sold all their driver's license data on the open market. Same thing the university and my credit union, who thought an SSN made a great and unique account number, until it got printed on all my checks !?

Before the internet was so available, there were Criss-Cross references that realtors and door to door sales people would use. The phone book provided phone number, but there were other publications that published un-listed phone numbers. Cell phone numbers are supposed to be un-listed, but you can subscribe to a cell phone directory service, if you want to.

The military regularly posts Wikipedia pages for military officers.

I never give out my SSN or date of birth, but then my well meaning stock broker, dentist and doctor's office all send me an unsolicited birthday cards.

I recommend using a VPN connection service (Norton), particularly with your cell phone. It's a smart step and now it's very affordable encryption.

Big brother is watching everything we do and so are our favorite vendors. Ever notice when you buy something on-line, you start getting targeted ads on-line for similar products or even the same thing? That's not any accident. Don't blame Amazon, Ring or WalMart - blame Apple, Dell, HP and Microsoft - they invented it and sold it to those vendors. Cookies were just the beginning. Ad tracking is just coming of age and it will be much more invasive in the coming months.

And you don't even have to go to the "dark Web" to find this stuff. Most of it is in public records.

I blame Congress for not addressing the problem head-on.

07-11-2021, 03:41 PM	#39
Mac Cat Lifer Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 751 Thanks: 2,158 Thanked 630 Times in 340 Posts	Every document you filed with a government agency is a public record. It starts with your birth certificate, your driver's license, your marriage certificate, your mortgage deed, college records, military records, business records, FFL, and especially obituaries (sorry, I've been writing more of those than I want to). Most government agencies and even colleges sell your information or provide it on-line for free. While the IRS, SS and medical records aren't allowed to release personal information, it's out there already via other vendors who do require it. That information is sold and published, even without Google. You can track me just by my driver's license. I still get junk mail addressed to my name, exactly how my college alumni association mis-spelled it 50 years ago !! I never even joined the alumni association. The great state of Georgia used to use our SSN for our driver's license number, as if that was a good idea. Then they sold all their driver's license data on the open market. Same thing the university and my credit union, who thought an SSN made a great and unique account number, until it got printed on all my checks !? Before the internet was so available, there were Criss-Cross references that realtors and door to door sales people would use. The phone book provided phone number, but there were other publications that published un-listed phone numbers. Cell phone numbers are supposed to be un-listed, but you can subscribe to a cell phone directory service, if you want to. The military regularly posts Wikipedia pages for military officers. I never give out my SSN or date of birth, but then my well meaning stock broker, dentist and doctor's office all send me an unsolicited birthday cards. I recommend using a VPN connection service (Norton), particularly with your cell phone. It's a smart step and now it's very affordable encryption. Big brother is watching everything we do and so are our favorite vendors. Ever notice when you buy something on-line, you start getting targeted ads on-line for similar products or even the same thing? That's not any accident. Don't blame Amazon, Ring or WalMart - blame Apple, Dell, HP and Microsoft - they invented it and sold it to those vendors. Cookies were just the beginning. Ad tracking is just coming of age and it will be much more invasive in the coming months. And you don't even have to go to the "dark Web" to find this stuff. Most of it is in public records. I blame Congress for not addressing the problem head-on.