Do You Know You're Online Profile?

Have you ever searched online for yourself, your real name, email, phone number or even the screen name you often use?  Have you ever considered how much information someone can actually fine about you, where you live, your hobbies, jobs and even family?

It can be scary (and useful) knowing the information is out there. Of course, it always has been through things like the white pages, but now it is compiled, just through a website search. The search I used was http://pipl.com, although there are other data compilers out there.  I did a search for my name and found a newsgroup post from back in 1997! It is amazing (and a little intimidating) when you consider what can be combined to make an profile of an individual.

Now it might seem like a completely negative thing but consider the benefit if you wanted to do a background type check on someone you were dating or hiring, for example. Or try and track down a loved one.  It could eliminate a lot of heartache.

Bottom line is that if you are online and even if you aren't, your information is more public than you probably ever expected. Once it is posted, your presence most likely will be there forever through archive.org or other cached locations. ☺