Thanks for the comment, and you’re spot on as far ownership and content are concerned.

I think that you would find that even the developers of these sites will admit that they are operating in a ‘grey’ area at best.

While I am only a very small fish in a huge pond in regard to traffic and influence, someone, somewhere has to start debating these things publicly, and not just at ‘higher levels’.

The inability to delete a wink profile is a real issue, and in that regard I have to hand it to the developers of Bigsight - they included that option from the start, and after my previous post, made it even easier.

I see less of a problem with their model than Wink, who make money out of selling data via Intelius.com.

Less of a problem, but still a shock when you see your profile there for the first time.

As for privacy, Aussies may be paranoid mate, but I remember when the Hawke Govt tried to bring in the Australia card in the mid ’80s, that when the population rolled the propsal, the bureaucrats rolled out the ‘Tax File Number’, which was supposedly only for tax purposes.

The reality is though, that apart from the fact that it i being used for more purposes, including opening a bank account and so on, unless I am mistaken, it can be used to cross reference other data and build a profile.

I’m with you about being open - state who you are, and only use data about yourself that is public knowledge anyway!

Cheers mate!

Yes, my real name and real web site. Stuff ‘em! I will not be intimidated and I believe that they are breaking the law quite frankly.

Consider this.

If I publish my profile on Facebook, then as far as I am concerned I own that information via the copyright legislation and I am giving Facebook a licence to use it. I am NOT giving any Tom, Dick or Harry lickence to do the same.

What if it was a graphic I created. It’s my copyright and can only be used with my permission. Why should my personal information be any different?

How dare these sites “lift” my personal information and use it to try and profit.

As you rightly say, Wink only gives access to US databases for US residents. Aussies tend to get a bit paranoid about their privacy and rightly so. I feel we are entitled to keep private what we wish and share what we wish.

This concept of Profile lifting is a bit like telling one of your mates some personal details and then they run out and tell the world. It would not be regarded highly.

It seems I have a Wink account. Not sure how I got it, but when I went to delete it, I couldn’t find a link. Perhaps one will surface through your blog posts.

Cheers,

Ric

It comes down to the question of who owns your info, and what right they have to sell it.

I remember George Orwell’s ‘1984′ very well. That book was part of our required reading list years ago when I was studying. His other book, ‘Animal Farm’ also had a strong message as well.

The world is changing, or is it? Is it just that in the information age more info is available, and it is more able to be used?

It would indeed be easy to build a profile on someone from information that is freely available.

One friend in the US totally flipped when I confronted him with the evidence. He thought that he had his tracks covered, used a pseudonym and so on, but I was able to find his info….

Take care!

You’re not being monitored yet i suppose. I’m sure you have read George Orwell’s 1984 and all the Big Brother possibilities that can happen. A similar film, Enemy of the State, is in the same vein.

All your posts and the information there could be retrieved, and this could create a whole book about you with underlying analysis of your typical reactions and behavior patterns. You certainly are correct about being prisoners of our own device.

One reason why I took on a pseudonym is precisely because of this. I have to relate with organizations and governments and sometimes I just can’t stand what they do. My bit in exposing some of these incompetencies find their way in my posts, sometimes embedded in the write up but not the main theme or subject. At other times, comments I post on other sites, even foreign funders sites, are really full of literary venom. But my real name is hidden. You will recall that meme on the 7 things about myself that you challenged me to write,that was all true but who is this author? The name does not exist. Notice too that I always write in the 3rd person, since some of the experiences in the post are my own. Despite all these, if it really gets rough, I know I could be found out based on the IP of the computer I use.

Your post is a good reminder for everyone. I have put in a safety device but I am not deceiving myself that I’m truly covered. But reading my posts, these monitors could still come up with a profile and a likely 3 candidates, one of them being me.

Take down some of the personal info and do erase the more revealing ones. I hope it’s not too late for you. Do it as a precaution. Take care. That’s the price of being controversial… and rebellious. __Durano, done!

durano lawayan’s last blog post..Smoking for Sanity’s Sake