Hugene - 2:28 pm on May 11, 2009 (gmt 0)

A sad story coming-out of the UK today [news.bbc.co.uk].

Makes me think that privacy online is more important than some people would realize, and unfortunately Twitter, Facebook and all are going the exact opposite way of privacy.

As webmasters, when it comes to content sites or forums, we are somewhat public figures, and must behave accordingly. Twitter and Facebook are great and can be part of your marketing, but there are limits to be respected.

The problem is that so much info is online, and so much of it is indexed, that it is easy for someone to re-construct your personal life.

Personally, I have a few rules: my phone numbers are never publicly listed, nor is my address. In North America, the 411 service gives away your phone number and address to anyone that has your name (the biggest security breach in history IMHO), so I pay my telco not to be listed there. My website registrations are anonymous, again through a paying service. My 2nd rule is not give away my full name on any of my sites: that means no linking to Facebook, blurring-out my name when I need to, no real-names on my blog, etc....

I know that these simple rules might seem archaic to some of you; I personally have friends that blur their personal and work identities online without thinking about it a 2nd time. But then again they don't run websites. Still, maybe I am old fashioned, but it makes me feel safer.