What Info Is Considered 'Public' When Posting On A Board?

[Lee]

For example, lets say someone posts data about a domain name from the whois database, i think every adult webmaster community considers that 'public' information and fair game to post, but what other stuff do you personally think is okay to post on a message board about an indivual or company?

Regards,

Lee

[Squirt]

Public business records available online from the secretary of state for any business.

Archived WHOIS data that is, or once was, publicly available.

Publicly accessible reverse IP on a server.

Public blogs by users, or images of users, posted by them online on their blog or other sites they've submitted to, own or run.

Keep in mind that on some boards what's ok regarding public information might change depending on what individual or business you're posting about.

[gaybucks_chip]

It's a sort of delicate thing, and actually it's something lawmakers have been talking about a lot as well.

Part of the issue is data aggregation. There's a huge company called Choicepoint which makes its living aggregating an amazing amount of data that is all information voluntarily supplied by the consumer, everything from magazine subscriptions to publicly available data to info they fill out on warranty registration forms.

But the issue is that consumers, at least in the past, did not have the expectation that anyone would aggregate all of the publicly available information together and make it available. Choicepoint has a frightening amount of information on a lot of people, including illnesses or medical problems (based on requests for information about medications from websites or phone calls), interests and hobbies, number and type of pets owned, type of equipment purchased, buying patterns, spouse, spouses name, sexual preference, occupation, previous occupations, schools attended, and much more.

Right now this is legal, and it gets to be hairy how you would make it illegal, but you can see why people get nervous.

In the case of the boards, for example, not everyone is open about the fact they're in the adult business, and so posting information, even if public, that creates a link in one place to the connection between adult and nonadult pursuits and perhaps provides a link between two different online "personas" might not be appreciated.

But by the same token, if a company is making a representation about a relationship (or lack thereof) with another company, and there's publicly available information that refutes that claim, then I personally believe that's fair game and reasonable information to post.

The other thing to keep in mind is, different board owners have different levels of tolerance for drama and flaming. Some boards will do anything and everything to keep a sense of decorum on their board. And, unfortunately, there are people out there who are incredibly thin skinned and will stop reading or posting at a board if there is ANY recurring drama, even if it isn't directed at them. I personally think that's stupid, but I guess some people are genuinely upset by conversations on a message board.

[Rich]

i think any infos that can be found through public records or data searches is fine even if the information has to be paid for so long as it does not threat the possibility of the persons safety

[gaybucks_chip]

I think you'd probably feel a lot differently if someone got hold of your Choicepoint file and every other thing that could be assembled and put together a dossier based on information from data mining.

It's really frightening what can be had out there about a lot of people.

[Lee]

I think you'd probably feel a lot differently if someone got hold of your Choicepoint file and every other thing that could be assembled and put together a dossier based on information from data mining.

It's really frightening what can be had out there about a lot of people.

You know its interesting you say this, every so often our bank will put a 'hold' on our debit card if we're out all day shopping as a fraud preventative measure, its annoying as all hell when we're trying to make a purchase in the store and it wont go through but, upon calling the bank, they actually ask us several questions and the last time this happened, some of them were REALLY weird.

I think some of them were stuff that only Gary would ever know, when he was 20 what house number did he live at in NY, what color was the car dad drive, even stuff about his ex sister-in-law.

Its now gotten to the point where if we know we're heading out and will be spending $2-$3000 in a short space of time, we'll actually call the bank first to let them know.

I think having this type of info available for sceurity purposes is defintiely a good thing, but at the same time, i can see how it could be used negatively.

When it comes to posting this type of stuff on an adult industry forum though, so long as it is being posted as information to help people make solid, informed decisions about who they are doing business with, i dont see any harm in it.

Of course, the type of information being posted should only be relevant to the issue at hand, posting what color Garys fathers car is, realistically is of no use to anyone.

Regards,

Lee

[gaybucks_chip]

I think some of them were stuff that only Gary would ever know, when he was 20 what house number did he live at in NY, what color was the car dad drive, even stuff about his ex sister-in-law.

I had a similar experience when I opened an account online. They were using Choicepoint and had all sorts of odd information that isn't in my credit report. Creeped me out a little.