Apr 6, 2010 0
Web-based mob-protection racket
If you’ve been spending any time online over the past year, then you’ve undoubtedly noticed a disturbing trend. With the ubiquity of social networking, people are less likely to be concerned with what information they expose online. They have the illusion that they are sharing information with a select group of friends, and that gives them a level of comfort that is unwarranted. In the past few years, it has been fairly common to hear in the news about people losing jobs/relationships/reputations over things that they (or others) post about themselves online.
As can be expected, there are elements out there that have found a way to monetize this lack of caution. Recently a disturbing number of “online directories” have surfaced that allow you to search for people online. These sites all tend to have the same aggregated data; littered with equal part accurate details and complete errors. Read the rest of this entry »