Pseudonym Part II please read

[Jim Rhoades]

I first read the first thread and did not post. I will now, with some more information. Kirk, here and on photo net I use my real name. On APUG I use a pseudonym because I goofed when I signed up and have been logged as a nick name (Photobum) that would confuse if I changed now.

Now I wish that I had used a pseudonym all along. Why? Click here. www.zabasearch.com
With this search engine it would be easy to check names, address, phone, dob and yes, SS numbers and a background check.

Care to come home and find your 900 pound safe missing? How about a scam artist with a whole new identity? Yours.

The AT&T search that gives home phone, address and a map is bad enough. This zabasearch goes way beyond that. They say you can remove your info by sending a e-mail. Check this out yourself. You may not like what you can find.

[Kirk Gittings]

I understand your point. those services have been out there for many years. But in all honesty my yellow pages ad gives you all you ever needed to know about me and I have had that for 25+ years. I for one have a very public life. As I run a very busy business out of my home, which my clients visit, I personally have no choice but to have a very public presence in the art community and on the web. I also have big dogs, an alarm system and watchful neighbors. Having said that, everything is a calculated risk and i refuse to live my life constantly glancing over my shoulder. I appreciate people, who do not have my necesities, yet still are up front with their identities on this forum. One example:

I have made a number of friends, who I value very much, through this forum. Everyone of them uses their own name here. That, I believe, is not an accident. There is something about honest upfront communication that lends itself to developing relationships.

[Lazybones]

I am not honest, nor am I upfront.

[Ron Marshall]

There has been a risk of identity theft or credit fraud long before the internet and the digital era. Someone recently charged a flight from Australia to Kuwait on one of my credit cards. I am not any more wary of using my cards than previously, and I cannot do anything further to enhance their security, as I have always been very cautious in that respect.

[Michael Graves]

I'm with Kirk on this one. I can either stick my head in the sand and hope nobody kicks my ass, or I can go on with my life. Like him, my profession puts my name in the public eye; albeit a much smaller public than his, I'm sure. It all boils down to one thing. Bad things happen to good people. Very likely something bad will eventually happen to me. Maybe it'll come from posting my name on this page. Maybe it'll come because I rejected a story for Lamoille Lamentations. But most likely, it'll be some random event that found me in the way. I'll keep my real name. But thanks for pointing out the website. I'll send them a request to remove my name so they can join the ever-lengthening group of businesses and organizations ignoring me.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've experienced credit card fraud on two occasions.

In one case it was probably someone who snatched my credit card number via e-mail--the electronic equivalent of fishing credit card receipts out of the trash. I'd made an international purchase just before the incident, and sent the number in a single e-mail. The purchase went okay. The credit card company cancelled the fraudulent charges, so it didn't cost me any money, but was somewhat inconvenient, since it took several weeks to get a new card. This was maybe 5 years ago. I don't send my card number like that anymore, but I still make many CC purchases online.

More recently I had an incident where many small charges appeared on my card over a period of weeks. When I noticed it and reported the fraudulent charges, the CC company cancelled the charges and sent me a new card in a matter of days. It seemed to be part of a wider ring of fraud where the thieves hacked into the database of a large retailer and captured hundreds of card numbers. There was no way I could protect myself against this sort of fraud, really, other than using a credit card that doesn't hold me responsible for fraudulent charges, as I do, and it worked perfectly.

In any case, neither of these instances has anything to do with whether I use my real name on internet forums, as I've done since 1992 or so, and will continue to do.

[Michael Graves]

David, are you the same Goldfarb that used to publish articles in Peterson's Photographic?

[David A. Goldfarb]

David, are you the same Goldfarb that used to publish articles in Peterson's Photographic?

No. Are you thinking of Norm Goldberg who wrote technical articles for _Popular Photography_?

[Michael Graves]

Could be. They say that the first thing to go is your....Hmmm. What was it, I wonder?

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Gladly, I am not that paranoid.