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Got tracked down for my school reunion

Today I was contacted by someone at work.
She graduated school with me and our 20 year reunion was coming up. Why did she contact me at work? It was the only way they were able to track me down. I was included in promotional material by name.
She told me I "was the hardest to track down"and I had to smile.

This is just a small anecdote about privacy practices and their real life impact (and how your employer can undo all of it, I guess)

jsomae ,

Sucks they were able to find you this way. That's why I always use a pseudonym.

Hugh_Jeggs ,

Yeah ok James

jsomae ,

:O

FarFarAway ,

Well, at least you were wanted.

I'm pretty sure they called my cell all week during work hours. Place had horrible reception so if the call came through at all, i couldnt answer cause well, im at work.

But nobody ever left a message so shrug

Etterra ,

Luckily I hated everyone in highschool and they never bothered me again once I left. If this has happened to me I'd have laughed in their face.

Phegan ,

I've been told by classmates that I am on the "unable to track down" list for my school.

Kanzar ,

That you have kept in touch means the school didn't try hard... 😂

d3Xt3r ,

I have a Google Alert set up, so I get notified in case my name pops up on the web. A month after I joined a new company, I got an alert - turned out that their internal directory page was exposed to the public web. I was pretty livid - all this time I was proud of maintaining good anonymity, looking up my name never returned anything meaningful on Google. So I complained to my boss about this, and he said it was actually a bug/misconfiguration - which they were already aware of, but didn't bother fixing it because no one complained. I was super pissed and made it very clear that it was a violation of my privacy and I wanted it taken down ASAP. Thankfully my boss was understanding and got it fixed. Then I had to report the page to Google. It took a while, but it was finally gone from the search results.

Preflight_Tomato ,

To help with this in the future, you can also create several fake results sharing your real name. Stuff like a blogger with one post not in your writing style, etc.. This will dilute searches with disinformation. Removal of real data is important, but you can also confuse anyone looking.

Natanael , (edited )

You could use an AI generated fake face and fake history too if your name is unique to make people think they either found the wrong person or make them unsure of the other listings mentioning you with only your name as an identifier

LemmyRefugee ,

Calm down Dexter. We all know your secret!

Thcdenton ,

As the Eric Cartman of my school. I will not have this problem.

deltapi ,

I don't understand. Are you saying you're a racist, abusive, narcissistic fuckhead? Or that you're fat?

Thcdenton ,

*was

monkeyslikebananas2 ,

Um, which one?

Xatolos ,
@Xatolos@reddthat.com avatar

https://reddthat.com/pictrs/image/fd62e70e-12d3-4ae9-89c4-94e508b35f77.jpeg

Thcdenton ,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8c5325b4-e5b6-4bff-a4f5-ff9afa8f0b38.gif

Syn_Attck ,

Um, why does it matter? He matured and changed. It's a positive attribute, not a negative one.

monkeyslikebananas2 ,

It doesn’t. Was an attempt at a witty retort.

Syn_Attck ,

I see. Textual communication has a pesky habit of not conveying tone unless you intentionally craft it to. It bugs me that there are so many people who negatively judge someone for decades-old attitudes and worldviews, when positive change should be commended.

Not you, since your comment was in jest, but I question the motives of those think that way unironically.

monkeyslikebananas2 ,

All good.

histic ,

Yes

tetris11 ,
@tetris11@lemmy.ml avatar

I was a mix of Kenny and Scott Malkinson

IphtashuFitz ,

You died every week (from diabetes)?

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

It seems better than having the FBI track you down (not that they need too as they track all of us all the time)

delirious_owl ,
@delirious_owl@discuss.online avatar

Is it really an issue that people can contact you? Its not really an issue of privacy if all they can do is contact you..

BreakDecks ,

They would need your contact info for that...

delirious_owl ,
@delirious_owl@discuss.online avatar

I don't want corporations to see what I buy, what news I read, or see a trace of my GPS coordinates.

I do want former colleagues and friends to be able to find my email address...

BreakDecks ,

Then give it to them. Address books, physical and digital, are nothing new.

Some of us don't want just anyone with something to say showing up in our inboxes.

mattreb ,

I kinda agree with you, being impossible to contact is probably unachievable in today society...Isn't it more important to avoid sharing more personal information, like your exact location history with Google? (or pls explain me the downvotes)

delirious_owl ,
@delirious_owl@discuss.online avatar

Well I'm saying I want to be contactable. I've moved many times in my life, and I don't want to loose contact with old lovers, friends, and colleagues.

Isn't it wonderful when an old friend sends you a message and you get to catch up?

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

I guess you can ask her how she managed to track you... later on do the necessary adjustments.

belated_frog_pants ,

I would be pissed and just say "that was on purpose, fuck you".

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

Or you could not be a dick

belated_frog_pants ,

Hunting down someone and calling them at their place of work is the dick here. Thats crazy. Leave people alone if they are hard to find. Someones privacy isnt someone elses sherlock holmes moment.

OPs invader sounds like someone who peaked in HS and cant let it go.

weker01 ,

Someone is putting a lot of work into including/inviting you.

Yea my first respond would also totally be: "Fuck that person in particular" /s

pruneaue ,

My 10y reunion is coming up, and im like 99% sure that nobody will be able to find me lol.
Im not in contact with anyone, and ive even changed my name and as far as i know none of them know the new one either :')

Hazzia ,

I have one up one you: I'm 100% sure nobody will find me because I'm 100% sure nobody will look for me. So take that, I guess.

tofubl ,

Have your parents and siblings changed their everything as well? That's how I would try to find someone I went to school with.

Coasting0942 ,

At least she didn’t hire a private investigator.

A human hunting for you can be pretty effective.

Steamymoomilk ,
@Steamymoomilk@sh.itjust.works avatar

Worlds most dangerous game

hayes_ ,

Jai alai?

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

What a strange book

Steamymoomilk ,
@Steamymoomilk@sh.itjust.works avatar

Indeed,
The author was a bit of a nut

jsomae ,

Scary to think what will happen when AI can automate that.

Th4tGuyII ,
@Th4tGuyII@kbin.social avatar

In terms of online presence I think one has to be careful about becoming too private - at what point do you become so untrackable that even people you would like to find you (I.e. old friends) can't anymore.

hypnicjerk ,

i really don't want old friends or distant family finding me though

Cheradenine ,

Agreed. If I am not in contact with you there is a reason.

jjlinux ,

Or more than one reason.

MrBusiness ,

"And what about very old friends?"

starman ,
@starman@programming.dev avatar

I have a website that shows up when someone searches my name on the internet and an email there. This way people are able to contact me and I don't have to use any spyware like Facebook.

But whether that works for you depends on your threat model, I guess.

toototabon ,
@toototabon@lemmy.ml avatar

Is it just a bare bones websites that has only your email? Do you host it?

starman ,
@starman@programming.dev avatar

Is it just a bare bones website

No, it's more work-oriented/portfolio type of site and it's hosted on Cloudflare Pages under my domain.

But in this case, bare bones website would be sufficient

Hellmo_Luciferrari ,

I would fully like to erase my online presence. I dont want people seeking me out.

Got_Bent ,

I had this argument with my boss and lost. They made all of us take photos that they posted on the company website. I said I'm working pretty hard on making myself invisible and don't appreciate being forced to out myself like this. Tough shit. My name picture and contact info are out there for all to see.

voracitude ,

They showed you how much they value you: less than a name and photo on their website. Sorry, bruv. I wish they had respected your wishes.

ErKaf ,

What the fuck? Where are you from? That would be illegal in germany. If you don't want to be in the internet, they can't just force you.

pineapplelover ,

I think this would be illegal in California too

Confused_Emus ,

Can’t speak for other countries but in the US this is horse shit.

SeekPie ,

Name checks out

barbara , (edited )

It may not always be good to be invisible. You could make a website for yourself sich that people can find you and contact you. You can tgen decide if you want to write back. E.g a mastodon account would be enough. You don't gave to blog with that acc.

JimboDHimbo ,

Personally, I think being impervious to damage is a great thing 😂

barbara ,

Shit 😂

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