Privacy

I have recently been discovering just how easy it is to find someone in this age of technology.
Working at my local Federal Electorate Office I recently found out that one of the biggest issues to come through the office is unsolicited phone calls.
There is currently a bill being drafted whereby people will be able to be on a 'don't contact' register.

At the same time, we were writing an article about NetAlert and I was saying how you can find anyone on the net eventually - with all the school newsletters and business websites floating around cyberspace.
I got on a bit of a roll and started looking up old friends, people I'd known at uni, ex-boyfriends, and even some people that I'd secretly been hoping had died and I'd see their name next to an obituary - no such luck, sadly.
Now, when I see a name that looks familiar, I tend to look for more info on them.
I even emailed one person who emailed me back from Canada - which was pretty cool.

A friend of mine - someone I rediscovered by searching ICQ and cross-referencing it with the White Pages, in fact (see, I told you only people with no life and no real live friends live this much on the net) - got an eyeopener when he dropped into an electoral office in Canberra for me.
He discovered just how easy it is to find someone.
He also discovered a man sitting on the computer next to him with a big list and a laptop, ticking off names and typing in addresses.
I suggested debt collector - we're also working on the theory that the bloke was a fanatic terrorist making his own 'black list' of dissenting political figures.

The only person I'm having trouble finding is in her 80s and, last thing I heard from her, bed-ridden - she doesn't seem to be surfing the net at all, partly a generational thing (which, to be honest, wouldn't really apply to Dixie as she's the most amazing person in the world and a total information junkie) and, I'm thinking, probably a capability thing.
I hate to think that when I find her finally it'll be next to an obituary notice.
But, ironically, she's been a journo for so many years that she was the one person who had her details supressed on the electoral roll.
(Kisses to D for making the effort to go into the office and look up her name for me!)

And yet, last night I had a phone call from someone who told me they'd got my phone number from a 'public database' and wanted to know if there was anyone living at the next house over?
They did not tell me where they were from, but I thought I recognised the name from a conversation I'd had with my electricity provider earlier in the day, and then asked me if I knew any members of my neighbour's family.
That kind of thing shits me!

Of course, that's exactly how I tracked down my own half-sister, and I've been known to ring local pubs to get in contact with someone for a news story - so I'm not exactly talking from any high moral ground here.
But nonetheless...privacy is an illusion.
You don't even have to buy into the big conspiracy Big Brother eye-in-the-sky theories, you just have to drop into your local electoral office with a laptop and a list.

When my family started tracing their geneaology we even found an Uncle from a second family my Grandfather had on the go in Germany, in addition to his 11 kids in Wales.
There are no skeletons in closests any more - they're all flying around in cyberspace.

So...unless you ARE hoping someone from your past will find you.
You CAN get your name & number left out of the White Pages without being unlisted.
You CAN suppress your electoral roll details.
Soon, you CAN stop service providers calling you at home (keep an eye on that bill).
And you should definitely Google your own name - it's very revealing.
One day, there will be NO secrets...keep that in mind if you have children of your own.