Online pseudonyms and aliases.

[jkhirsch]

"Be so transparent they don't know what the hell you are talking about." -Ben Bernanke

[NotarPilot]

For a variety of personal security reasons I think some degree of privacy is important and should be left up to the user as to how much or how little personal information he or she wants to give up.  Personally I don't use Facebook, MySpace or twitter because I prefer to keep a low profile online.  

My handle here is representative of what I fly for my day job and is also my gmail account that I've had for years.  My friends on here know me as Steve.  Not a big deal but I prefer not having my surname attached to an airplane forum which allows people to find out what kind of airplane I own, what avionics I have and give an impression on how much money I may or may not have.  There are plenty of unscrupulous people in this world there who like to take advantage of others based on perceptions on what they they you may or may not have.  

As an example, imagine if you were involved in a traffic accident that was your fault and gave the other party your name as required by law.  They go home, google your name and find out you own an airplane.  We all know everyone who owns an airplane is filthy rich right?  So they say "This guy owns an airplane! He's definitely going to pay $XXX now!"

[mike_elliott]

13 minutes ago, NotarPilot said:

For a variety of personal security reasons I think some degree of privacy is important and should be left up to the user as to how much or how little personal information he or she wants to give up.  Personally I don't use Facebook, MySpace or twitter because I prefer to keep a low profile online.  

My handle here is representative of what I fly for my day job and is also my gmail account that I've had for years.  My friends on here know me as Steve.  Not a big deal but I prefer not having my surname attached to an airplane forum which allows people to find out what kind of airplane I own, what avionics I have and give an impression on how much money I may or may not have.  There are plenty of unscrupulous people in this world there who like to take advantage of others based on perceptions on what they they you may or may not have.  

As an example, imagine if you were involved in a traffic accident that was your fault and gave the other party your name as required by law.  They go home, google your name and find out you own an airplane.  We all know everyone who owns an airplane is filthy rich right?  So they say "This guy owns an airplane! He's definitely going to pay $XXX now!"

It is no longer an issue...Equifax has allowed all your personal info into the wild. Game over.

[NotarPilot]

11 minutes ago, mike_elliott said:

It is no longer an issue...Equifax has allowed all your personal info into the wild. Game over.

Right now that info, in theory, is in the possession of Equifax and a group of hackers.  While not a good situation at all I don't know if it's "out there" yet or even for sale... yet.  Also, the latest estimate I heard was 100 million customers affected which means you have a 2 in 3 chance of not being affected.  With my luck I'm probably affected.

[Oldguy]

15 hours ago, NotarPilot said:

Right now that info, in theory, is in the possession of Equifax and a group of hackers.  While not a good situation at all I don't know if it's "out there" yet or even for sale... yet.  Also, the latest estimate I heard was 100 million customers affected which means you have a 2 in 3 chance of not being affected.  With my luck I'm probably affected.

You can check at  www.equifaxsecurity2017.com to see if you come up as one of the lucky 143 million.

I checked myself, and I am a winner!!  Again... 

[jetdriven]

If you put in bigbird and 123456 it will say your compromised, click here to sign up for this monitoring service.  Dishonesty even after they let your data get away. 

[RLCarter]

9 minutes ago, jetdriven said:

If you put in bigbird and 123456 it will say your compromised, click here to sign up for this monitoring service.  Dishonesty even after they let your data get away. 

TrusdedID is complimentary so they say, my guess it's free for 6 mo then they start billing 

[Bob_Belville]

16 hours ago, NotarPilot said:

Right now that info, in theory, is in the possession of Equifax and a group of hackers.  While not a good situation at all I don't know if it's "out there" yet or even for sale... yet.  Also, the latest estimate I heard was 100 million customers affected which means you have a 2 in 3 chance of not being affected.  With my luck I'm probably affected.

100 million sounds like the entire country. Back out from the total population children and all the other folks who do not use credit or banks... are some couples a single customer? 

So, you might not be affected if you're a 3 year old from El Salvador, even though you are counted in the census.

[Oldguy]

Just now, Bob_Belville said:

100 million sounds like the entire country. Back out from the total population children and all the other folks who do not use credit or banks... are some couples a single customer? 

So, you might not be affected if you're a 3 year old from El Salvador, even though you are counted in the census.

It is tracking about 50/50 in my office. One of my staff is "affected" while their spouse is not.

But it took me 5 years to get my ex off my credit report. So much for linkage.

[Raptor05121]

Go figure. I don't have the credit history of half of you and I'm not affected. I guess I was small potatoes. 

[mike_elliott]

3 minutes ago, Raptor05121 said:

Go figure. I don't have the credit history of half of you and I'm not affected. I guess I was small potatoes. 

Its because you use a pseudonym on MooneySpace Alex.

[Raptor05121]

[RLCarter]

49 minutes ago, Oldguy said:

But it took me 5 years to get my ex off my credit report. So much for linkage.

Almost 10 back in the early 80's, had to write letters an snail mail them every six months or so. After the the Divorce she purchased a car and used me as a reference, when she stopped making payments the bank called me, told they have called before loaning the money not after 

[HRM]

17 hours ago, NotarPilot said:

I prefer to keep a low profile online.  

Hmmmm...now I am intrigued.

                 Steve/PPL/M20J/Helicopter Rated/Avidynes/probably IFR...

Oh, to be fair:

                 Harley R Myler/N5976Q/KBPT--just Google me (1,350,000 results )

[fantom]

Back when MooneySpace was starting up, I suggested to Craig that full name, physical location, airport base, airplane model and tail number be REQUIRED on our left side bio's. He didn't want to restrict access, so declined....

It seems to have worked out OK

As for me, how do I know if BillC is a real name, and why he looks like a dog is beyond me?

[NotarPilot]

19 hours ago, HRM said:

Hmmmm...now I am intrigued.

                 Steve/PPL/M20J/Helicopter Rated/Avidynes/probably IFR...

Oh, to be fair:

                 Harley R Myler/N5976Q/KBPT--just Google me (1,350,000 results )

You're very sharp but I'll let you in on a secret.  The picture on the left is not really me.  

[Marauder]

You can check at  www.equifaxsecurity2017.com to see if you come up as one of the lucky 143 million.
I checked myself, and I am a winner!!  Again... 

What I think is ironic is I used Equifax when it was provided to me for free because a local hospital's database got hacked and they had personal records stolen. The hospital paid for a year of free credit reports.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Oldguy]

19 minutes ago, Marauder said:

What I think is ironic is I used Equifax when it was provided to me for free because a local hospital's database got hacked and they had personal records stolen. The hospital paid for a year of free credit reports.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

I have lost count of the number of times I have been notified of a breach by somewhere I shop, bank, or even go to the doctor. So far this year, the count is three letters and one email without the Equifax issue. Seems to just be a fact of connected life.

 

[tigers2007]

Oldguy is correct. Easiest fix is to get credit monitoring (FREE with many credit card companies) and to pay your credit cards off monthly. Maybe even try harder to get rid of all debt. Capital One has free Creditwise monitoring for life as a customer. I get instant updates for any sort of activity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kris_adams]

I (obviously) like the BeechTalk approach to login...

As far as the whole Experian thing goes, please go freeze all three of your credit reports.  Takes about 15 minutes to do all three and costs almost nothing.  Monitoring is a joke.  Here's a link showing how to do it if you need help.  The site I'm referencing doesn't sell anything so hopefully it's ok I post it.

http://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/

[Wildhorsesracing]

Privacy is for those who are paranoid and want a false sense of security.  Everything about you and your life is available out there somewhere. If someone wants to find out all about you they will. George Orwell's 1984 is alive and well, but Big Brother's name is Google.

My mantra, live your life to the fullest, worry only about your health and enjoy what little time we have on this giant blue marble.

[Amelia]

My handle has been Amelia for 70 years, an honor owed to a 200 year succession of southern. grandmothers. If I am not in trouble with the law, the FAA, or others in authority, I also answer to a nickname bestowed on me as an infant for unknown reasons: Mimi. And in appropriate contexts, HeyMa, Mom, DearLove, Grandmama, and others. Getting old enough to be Ma'am to clerks and Miss Mimi to neighbor children has taken some adjustment. Now I am trying to get in the habit of responding to Seven Zero Bravo. Uh, who? Wuzzat fer us? 

[flyboy0681]

Having been a victim of identify fraud last year, I'm ahead of the game and am already on lock-down. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, it's a nightmare. Within hours, over $50k in credit was opened in my name from within the great state of California and somebody actually made off with $9k worth of furniture from a San Diego furniture store chain. Did the company have a policy of writing down the license plate numbers of cars and trucks loading up with furniture  from their loading dock? No.

In the end I spent hours on the phone, over $100 on notary services for signing affidavits, and the paperwork was several inches thick. But most of all, I festered a lot of anger that someone was able to perpetrate this on me and that the banks simply shrug it off as the cost of doing business and didn't do any investigative work to find the pricks.

 

By the way, the 0681 in flyboy0681 was the month and year that I earned my private ticket, June 1981.

[fantom]

Sorry to tell you that it's far from over....we've been battling it for five years, and like a virus, it keeps coming back.

No, the initial SS# was made public by a local hospital, NOT my name on MS

[Johnnybgoode]

The fact that there are 4 pages of comments on the topic indicates it's a pretty slow Mooney day...

Nevertheless, I'm Charles (goes by Patrick) Berry, AKA Chuck Berry, whose best song was Johnny B. Goode, hence my handle.  Nothing sinister.