Friend of mine who blogs on another site posted a blog about stalking. She did not name names in the blog, but two of us (her friends) and the site admins. know who the stalker is.
She does not use her real name on that site because of the unwanted contact she has received from others in the past, and the fact that it is an alternative lifestyle site.
She is a female living alone in a somewhat remote area, and seeks not to be unfriendly nor duplicitous, but cautious. Unfortunately, she did put her pic on her profile. Probably not the best choice considering the circumstances. Well, someone she does not esp. care for from that site tracked her down somehow on fb and asked to "friend" her there. They did not have her name, but her general area, and age. Who knows the profiles they had to comb through before matching up her photos from both sites? There is software out there that can do this, I am told, so it may have been easy for them.
The point is that they now have my friend's real name, family member's names and more of a clue on her location. If they found her there, getting her actual physical address should be no problem. She was outraged and terrified, as she had done nothing to invite nor encourage this contact, and now has to worry about having her lifestyle choices disclosed to others...as well as the possibility of having some psycho show up at her door.
She is a strong and determined coonass (relax, it is what cajuns call themselves), and would have no problem tcob if threatened; but it is not something she or any other sane person would relish having to do.
The incident has been reported to the site admins., and a private message sent to this person politely asking them to refrain from further contact or face legal action. There was obviously no mention of what would occur should this individual show up at her home. Ahem!
What was in his demented mind, you wonder? Well, the he was a she. Nope, not a sexual nor romantic thing at all. Just an attempt by a disturbed and attention seeking woman who found nothing wrong in what she did and quickly came up with a cover story for the site admin. to keep from being banned from the site. Interestingly, even on her fb site, the stalking woman uses a false ID, so while she intrudes into others lives gathering their info, she seeks to reveal little to none of her own.
One of the site admins commented that in this day and age, such behavior is sadly more and more common, and people should remember that whatever they put online is out there forever. It is a wake up call as to our vulnerability and our false sense of security.
Okay, so i took up the challenge of this posting and decided to check out my dead father. i found out he currently lives in Centennial, Colorado - with a daughter aged 60, no other children.
ReplyDeleteReality - he died a year ago, his "daughter by name" was his 7th wife and he lived in Alaska for the past 14 years (well save for the last three where he was in recover in Wheatridge, Co for a stroke).
Seventh wife's data is completely hosed. She is also dead but apparently lives on campus at UA Fairbanks. I guess they are keeping her on ice for halloween?
So, yeah, there are attempts out there in internet land to "tie" together disparate data, but it sure does not look real good right now, nor something to really worry about immediately.
The oft stated "do not make public, what you do not want the public to know....."
So for instance, I use an alias for selling things on CraigsList and eBay - other than that, I am whom I am. But, I really do not need to be robbed or burgled, etc. And four years ago a deranged woman (stranger!) found out where I lived (the town only, I had already stated I lived in Switzerland at the time) and the police had to haul her away in the middle of the night as she roamed the village hollering my name! My city father's were not amused (to say the least!).
If I was a single woman, I probably would not even advertise the state I live in, much less my real name, educational background, employment, etc!
A sad commentary on the nature of our "modern times".