-----original message-----
>>I just joined Rapleaf and made all my information private. It's important to
know about these services so that we can try to manage the information out
there. I had to give them my email address, but they had that already.>>





Dear Jacqueline, and other esteemed colleagues:

I just did as you suggested, although it seems unfair to make me do
that. I'd prefer it if Rapleaf used an confirmed opt-in policy.

That said, I have to point out that I never, ever post anything to the
internet under my name without considering that the following people
have internet access:

* My parents

* An ex who is lovely person, but whose mental illness does make him
subject to paranoid episodes

* All of my current and future employers

It's not that I live in fear of these folks, but I do ask myself
whether I'd want any of them to find this information about me online.
In some cases, it's appropriate for me to discuss a topic with them
in more personal way. In other cases, I don't wish to disclose the
information to them at all. I have to take some responsibility here.

Fortunately, it's pretty easy to get an email account with a pseudonym
that can be erecreational or confidential purposes. For instance, I
have been involved in some scambaiting projects, and it would have
been foolish or even dangerous to use a name or address that could be
traced back to me. (Other than that, I lead a pretty quiet life.)

It's also easy to say what an individual (or organization) should have
been doing, when the real question is damage control after sensitive
information has been published online. So perhaps the real question
is relmedial: what should you (or your organization) do, if you find
that a web site such as Rapleaf has let the genie out of the bottle?

Best regards from Deborah

Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Cyber-Yenta
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
deborah_elizabeth_finn@...
www.cyber-yenta.org
Skype: Deborah909
Twitter: Deborah909
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah909

"Nothing softeneth the Arrogance of our Nature
like a Mixture of some Frailties. It is by them
that we are best told, that we must not strike
too hard upon others....They pull our Rage by
the sleeve and whisper Gentleness to us in our
censures."
-George Savile (1633 - 1695)