Stan Suther's Real Estate and Stuff

Your information can be found on the Internet!  Arrgghh! 

I watched a news piece on CNN yesterday about a young reporter who went on-line to find out what information was available about her on the Internet.  While reporting the various bits that had been captured about her (she is, after all, a network news reporter, so you know she’s out there in cyberspace).  The thing that floored me was her reporting that people could use the internet to find our things like your phone number and (brace yourself) where you live!!!  I’ve heard reporters note these things before as if they are an outrageous invasion of privacy.  The funny thing is that until recently, no one ever gave any thought to having those bits of info widely available in another database read by millions of people – the PHONE BOOK!  Now, that’s changing mainly because of the tendency of people to use the Internet directory services to get phone numbers.  As a matter of fact, there was a news report the other day that some cities are considering taking action against publishers of phone books who just have distributors drive by residences and toss phone books on stoop to be sure each house and apartment has at least one.   All of a sudden, phone books are being looked by many as old school and instant trash or recycling material.  Of course, you’re in the listings, both on-line and in the phone books if you have a land line.  Lots of people are opting for cell phone only service, so the numbers are not published.  That in itself is kind of annoying if you don’t have the number of a person you want to call.  Given that little harm can be done to you over the phone (mental picture of someone reaching through the phone and grabbing your neck), it seems a bit odd that people would choose to be so anonymous at least as far as phone numbers go – particularly if it’s on the do-not-call list.

As far as your location is concerned, many property owners have for years understood that property ownership records are public records available for review at the local office of the register of deeds office.  Now most locations have that information available on-line.  This is of great benefit to Realtors and others who need property information to do their work.  Is that an invasion of privacy?  Unless you actually have a need to hide from other people (no doubt some have a legitimate need), then having your name on the mailbox is sort of an invitation to those who would like to visit.  The information on the Internet is just a digital version of that.

I know there are bits of info about us that need to be kept relatively private- social security numbers, various passwords and PINS, credit card numbers, etc..  The point here is that we shouldn’t let paranoia move us to set up virtual bunkers to avoid being contacted by strangers or others for legitimate reasons. 

Bad things can happen because of the Internet, but bad things happened before the Internet existed, too.  Let’s get a grip!

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