Mailinglist privacy: MY NAME ALL OVER GOOGLE!

Bart Silverstrim bsilver at chrononomicon.com
Fri May 6 04:57:08 PDT 2005


On May 6, 2005, at 6:57 AM, Fafa Hafiz Krantz wrote:

>
>> No, that would be impossible.  Hint: third-party mirrors (i.e. 
>> Google).
>
> What if ones life is at risk?
>
> Would that be up to the 3rd party mirror administrators?

A) You sent messages to unknown hundreds or thousands of people on the 
mailing list, all of which could have a cached copy of your messages, 
and now wonder about privacy?
B) The archives are searchable and referenced, and you claim you didn't 
know that despite the number of self appointed upper-echelons that 
reply with a curt "Look in the archives" type answer?
C) Your words are being re-mirrored by being embedded inside other 
posts that REPLY to your messages.  You honestly think that a volunteer 
is going to delete your messages AND all messages referencing your 
name?

Wouldn't it just be easier for you to put on a tin foil hat and go to a 
courthouse to have your name changed?

>> This is a recurring theme.  It's really *NOT* the fault of the
>> postmaster of FreeBSD.org that you posted to public mailing lists.
>
> There should be a law protecting users against this.
> There should be a way to help them!

There should be.  We'll call it The Law of Common Sense.

This is a public mailing list.  No one invaded your privacy.  You sent 
your words, you didn't stop to think about the implications of mailing 
a public mailing list on the Internet, and now you're complaining about 
the obvious way it works.  None on the list that I know of is actively 
digging into your background or prying more secrets from you regarding 
your personal information...the only stuff out on the Internet are 
either from public records or information you voluntarily gave out!

And you're still posting your signature to your messages to give more 
information...

The way the Internet works isn't a secret.  It's also no secret that 
there are privacy advocates that give information on how to be more 
anonymous on the Internet. 



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