Just to put some clarity into this as I work in the security field.
Nothing is 'private' about a yahoo group. Little is private with
regard to anything transacted online. Anyone can see it and more
importantly, what you 'say' is archived and will persist very likely
for decades.
In general it is an exceedingly bad idea to publish personal details
online. These days it is bad to give personal information to almost
anyone unless you have some way of knowing how the information will be
handled.
You publish bits and pieces, here and there, people are capable of,
and are making a business out of assembling those bits and pieces into
a much more useful complete picture. A name here, an address in
another forum, maybe a mention of your birthday. Now it's possible to
search and find them all, particularly if someone is patient and
compiling these details by watching a list or forum over a long
period. Trust me, people do exactly this.
A lister in a previous posting gave an awful lot of his information
out. The two pieces now missing are his SSN and his DOB. With the
amount of information he gave, it wouldn't be very difficult to get
the last two pieces. What can be done with this? Identity theft and
fraud, 'appearing' to be committed by this person is only the start.
As for the notion that 'signing' anything online somehow adds
credibility or accountability, it's simply bunk. It is a trivial
matter to masquerade as anyone you so choose electronically. What
happens is, the few honest people expose themselves far too much and
the dishonest people move amongst the crowd undetected using false
information.
This topic comes up constantly, has come up constantly since I got
'connected' in 1995 or so. On the few dozen mailing lists and forums
I participate in, I generally post an explanation like this about once
a year.
Be aware, read about protecting your identity, and gain some insight.
Yours truly
Herman Munster
1313 Mockingbird Lane
Asbury Park, NJ 07712
171-92-7845
732-345-8764
06/24/1947
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