An incident happened today that hits on some of the reasons why it is never a good idea to publicly out clients. When traveling to NYC, a lady scheduled an appointment and "took" a Paypal payment, without being able to confirm that the payment had actually been made. Although the appointment seemed to go off without a hitch, she later found out that payment had not in fact been made. So today, she posted his personal info on this and at least one other board.
Now, it turns out, that ( upon getting what is deemed to be a photo of him ), that the person who she had the session with was the often talked about "Gerald". Since "Gerald's" purported pesonal info has been posted on more than one occassion, and this info was different, we know for certain that at least one of these two sets of info is incorrect. It is however, someone's real info. It is fairly safe to say at this point, then, that personal info is being posted on the 'net which is not that of the "offender", but instead is that of some "innocent party". How would any of us feel if this happened to us ??????
The lesson I hope that folks come away with has several parts. One of these is that collecting a lot of this personal info really does not make for a "secure" transaction. Since it is so easy to either fabricate or "borrow" it, it really does not deter anyone who really has any ill intent.
The second part is that often, if someone gives this info and commits some "misdeed" anyway, there's a good chance that they don't care about you having this info because it's not really theirs anyway. As a result, one should be careful about what they do with info from these persons, since there's a really good chance you will be harming some innocent third party by disseminating it on the web.
Thirdly, as a cautionary tale to any would-be "knights in shining armour", be careful what "info" you act on. Anyone who did anything based on seeing this guy's info that was posted earlier today should feel pretty fucking stupid right now.
[Edited by slinkybender on 06-12-2001 at 02:16 PM]
Now, it turns out, that ( upon getting what is deemed to be a photo of him ), that the person who she had the session with was the often talked about "Gerald". Since "Gerald's" purported pesonal info has been posted on more than one occassion, and this info was different, we know for certain that at least one of these two sets of info is incorrect. It is however, someone's real info. It is fairly safe to say at this point, then, that personal info is being posted on the 'net which is not that of the "offender", but instead is that of some "innocent party". How would any of us feel if this happened to us ??????
The lesson I hope that folks come away with has several parts. One of these is that collecting a lot of this personal info really does not make for a "secure" transaction. Since it is so easy to either fabricate or "borrow" it, it really does not deter anyone who really has any ill intent.
The second part is that often, if someone gives this info and commits some "misdeed" anyway, there's a good chance that they don't care about you having this info because it's not really theirs anyway. As a result, one should be careful about what they do with info from these persons, since there's a really good chance you will be harming some innocent third party by disseminating it on the web.
Thirdly, as a cautionary tale to any would-be "knights in shining armour", be careful what "info" you act on. Anyone who did anything based on seeing this guy's info that was posted earlier today should feel pretty fucking stupid right now.
[Edited by slinkybender on 06-12-2001 at 02:16 PM]
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