Elite Member
Re: Accused! Potential security threat! Pray tell, I'm always eager to learn of such things...Originally Posted by Barney_Rubble
Valued Member
Watch out for men in black suits I say. They're watching you. They're watching all of us.
Junior Member
Sorry about the delay. I haven't been well. Still not fully recovered, so this will be another short visit, and I probably won't get much time on line for the next week or two. Another funeral to go to among other things. :-(
Having been refused the information I asked for, I had intended to just let this thread die, but "Devil's Advocate" asked about my security concerns, so here they are, some of them anyway.
ANY information transmitted without the user's knowledge or permission carries some risk.
It doesn't really matter that remote sites can see my operating system and browser.
An IP address can be a different matter though, giving a hacker something to go on, especially for broadband users (which I'm not) whose IP address remains the same, though presumably a decent firewall will give adequate protection against that.
If a site such as this one can detect my e-mail address, something I consider a near-certainty, so could a malicious site, which may well explain the amount of spam I'm getting.
More worrying is the assertion that people's home town is knowable. In my opinion this can only mean that people's telephone numbers are being broadcast to any suitably equipped site. Either that or the information is supplied by ISPs. Whatever the source, if a site like this can find a person's number, so can a malicious one.
I have a particular reason for wanting to remain anonymous on the www, and I'm not even sure whether I ought to give any further information here, but I'll risk it.
It's not that long ago that I had a stalker. The police just laughed. What harm could that tiny woman do you, a strong-looking (at that time) six footer? Most people just can't imagine the damage that can be done by somebody with little more than a pen, a sick mind and a total lack of conscience or basic human decency, and the danger becomes infinitely greater when the stalker is prepared to pay thugs to do her dirty work.
I could tell you the harm that evil woman did, but then this post would turn into a book. I'll just say she totally screwed my life in more ways than most people would believe possible, and the slightest thing could start it all up again.
Psychopaths don't think like us. Time doesn't matter. Nothing matters but their obsession. This evil woman would think nothing of going through an entire telephone directory, however long it takes, until she found a number corresponding to "Barney Rubble", and when she discovered that I'm one of her former victims, all hell would break loose yet again. If "Barney" were to let it slip on here that he was going away for a few days (no, I'm not), I'd get back to find the place cleared out, and what her thugs didn't take, they'd destroy. There'd be nothing left and the place would be uninhabitable, flooded, dirty, no doors or windows left unbroken, totally trashed as our American friends might say.
What did I do to deserve it? Absolutely nothing! All I ever did was show this thoroughly evil woman a bit of kindness.
Perhaps I AM paranoid, but anybody who's been through an experience like that, lasting several years, will do whatever's necessary to prevent it happening again.
Sorry it's so long Myk, but you did ask.
