Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

All the other crazy stuff we talk about. Politics, Science, News, the Kitchen, other hobbies.
User avatar
ti-amie United States of America
Posts: 22983
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2020 4:44 pm
Location: The Boogie Down, NY
Has thanked: 5302 times
Been thanked: 3284 times

Honorary_medal

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#61

Post by ti-amie »

If it was good enough for the Olsen twins...

Let's hope his parents invest wisely.
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
User avatar
ti-amie United States of America
Posts: 22983
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2020 4:44 pm
Location: The Boogie Down, NY
Has thanked: 5302 times
Been thanked: 3284 times

Honorary_medal

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#62

Post by ti-amie »

“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
User avatar
ponchi101 Venezuela
Site Admin
Posts: 14718
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:40 pm
Location: New Macondo
Has thanked: 3855 times
Been thanked: 5561 times
Contact:

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#63

Post by ponchi101 »

Ooops! Who could have thought!
I mean: in theory, this is MY SITE. And all the info in the host server is made up. My fakey e-mail address, my DOB, my location (it says USA), everything. Just simply never put anything real on the web.
Ego figere omnia et scio supellectilem
User avatar
Suliso Latvia
Posts: 4404
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2020 2:30 pm
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Has thanked: 273 times
Been thanked: 1453 times

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#64

Post by Suliso »

Well, I do have real information on my Linkedin profile. It would be useless otherwise.
User avatar
ponchi101 Venezuela
Site Admin
Posts: 14718
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:40 pm
Location: New Macondo
Has thanked: 3855 times
Been thanked: 5561 times
Contact:

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#65

Post by ponchi101 »

I deleted a lot of info from LI after they were hacked. And it was too late. Had several unwanted mails of the type like "Pay so much in bitcoin or your friends in FB will receive a mail of you watching porn".
Since I am not in FB, I knew it was a bluff. But the LI hack was important.
Ego figere omnia et scio supellectilem
User avatar
Deuce Canada
Posts: 4531
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2020 5:52 am
Location: An unparallel universe
Has thanked: 336 times
Been thanked: 977 times

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#66

Post by Deuce »

ponchi101 wrote: Sun Apr 04, 2021 7:11 pm Ooops! Who could have thought!
I mean: in theory, this is MY SITE. And all the info in the host server is made up. My fakey e-mail address, my DOB, my location (it says USA), everything. Just simply never put anything real on the web.
^ Wait a minute...
Does this mean that you're just a figment of my imagination?

In seriousness, though, I agree. I don't put anything real, either - because the internet is rife with the least trustworthy species on Earth.
R.I.P. Amal...

“The opposite of courage is not cowardice - it’s conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.”- Jim Hightower
User avatar
ti-amie United States of America
Posts: 22983
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2020 4:44 pm
Location: The Boogie Down, NY
Has thanked: 5302 times
Been thanked: 3284 times

Honorary_medal

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#67

Post by ti-amie »

I have an Internet Birthday as well. I thought everyone did.
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
User avatar
mmmm8
Posts: 1342
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2020 8:21 pm
Location: NYC
Has thanked: 829 times
Been thanked: 855 times

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#68

Post by mmmm8 »

I think all the "fake info" attempts are futile. Whoever wants to find you, will find you. Your phone provider will leak (or publish) your phone number just as quickly. My apartment purchase documents with my date of birth and everything are public domain.

Just accept you have no privacy (but did you ever REALLY have it with white pages and offline public records?) or live in the woods.
User avatar
ponchi101 Venezuela
Site Admin
Posts: 14718
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:40 pm
Location: New Macondo
Has thanked: 3855 times
Been thanked: 5561 times
Contact:

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#69

Post by ponchi101 »

One of the reasons there is so much cybercrime is because people still refuse to understand how unsafe it is. I recently read that for something like the 20th year in a row, the most popular password in the world remains: "1234567890". The second is "password". People don't even bother to use mixed lower and upper case.
When I worked for Shell here in Colombia, I became good friends with our security guy. I had a feeling that before I joined there had been some problems with my credentials, and he confirmed that. He was a former Colombian Army intelligence officer and, as we became friends, he told me what had happened: Shell's security office had been able to find nothing on me, and that made them suspicious. He admitted, actually, that he recommended not hiring me, as they found no digital fingerprints of me: no FB, no TWT, no IG, nothing. My e-mail address was very well protected (I have a 20+ character long password) and even my LI address, which I gave them, was very strange (they did find that my DOB did not match). As friends, he told me that the best thing to happen to intelligence personnel was the invention of FB. He told me people put everything in there, so all you needed was to befriend them and you would know everything.
So sure, the internet is very unsafe. But a lot of that has to do with people not taking proper precautions. And then, when you add your mom or dad having an address in which the password is the combination of two or three of their children or grand-children, well, the thing is wide open to any and all possible chicanery.
Ego figere omnia et scio supellectilem
User avatar
Suliso Latvia
Posts: 4404
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2020 2:30 pm
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Has thanked: 273 times
Been thanked: 1453 times

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#70

Post by Suliso »

mmmm8 wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:51 pm I think all the "fake info" attempts are futile. Whoever wants to find you, will find you. Your phone provider will leak (or publish) your phone number just as quickly. My apartment purchase documents with my date of birth and everything are public domain.

Just accept you have no privacy (but did you ever REALLY have it with white pages and offline public records?) or live in the woods.
Yes and no. We can't hide from skilled investigators, intelligence agencies and so on, but I think most of us are not under an illusion that we can. All we're trying to do is avoid low skill attacks/spam of some kind...
User avatar
mmmm8
Posts: 1342
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2020 8:21 pm
Location: NYC
Has thanked: 829 times
Been thanked: 855 times

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#71

Post by mmmm8 »

Suliso wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 3:10 pm
mmmm8 wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:51 pm I think all the "fake info" attempts are futile. Whoever wants to find you, will find you. Your phone provider will leak (or publish) your phone number just as quickly. My apartment purchase documents with my date of birth and everything are public domain.

Just accept you have no privacy (but did you ever REALLY have it with white pages and offline public records?) or live in the woods.
Yes and no. We can't hide from skilled investigators, intelligence agencies and so on, but I think most of us are not under an illusion that we can. All we're trying to do is avoid low skill attacks/spam of some kind...
I happen to know your name and just googling that without any additional clicking or even going beyond the second page of search results gave me your home address, your phone number, your work phone number, your work email, your grad school email, and your papers and patents. And of course your rank in the 27th International Chemistry Olympiad in China.

Hardly many skills needed.
User avatar
ponchi101 Venezuela
Site Admin
Posts: 14718
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:40 pm
Location: New Macondo
Has thanked: 3855 times
Been thanked: 5561 times
Contact:

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#72

Post by ponchi101 »

Because Suliso is famous. I just did what you said and googled both forms of my name (short and log version) and all I got was the profile of a famous footballer (and not SO famous) that shares it.
Maybe I have a career as an undercover agent. uhm... ;)
Ego figere omnia et scio supellectilem
User avatar
Suliso Latvia
Posts: 4404
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2020 2:30 pm
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Has thanked: 273 times
Been thanked: 1453 times

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#73

Post by Suliso »

mmmm8 wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:43 pm
Suliso wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 3:10 pm
mmmm8 wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:51 pm I think all the "fake info" attempts are futile. Whoever wants to find you, will find you. Your phone provider will leak (or publish) your phone number just as quickly. My apartment purchase documents with my date of birth and everything are public domain.

Just accept you have no privacy (but did you ever REALLY have it with white pages and offline public records?) or live in the woods.
Yes and no. We can't hide from skilled investigators, intelligence agencies and so on, but I think most of us are not under an illusion that we can. All we're trying to do is avoid low skill attacks/spam of some kind...
I happen to know your name and just googling that without any additional clicking or even going beyond the second page of search results gave me your home address, your phone number, your work phone number, your work email, your grad school email, and your papers and patents. And of course your rank in the 27th International Chemistry Olympiad in China.

Hardly many skills needed.
If you know my name then you can (I remember yours too btw), but at least I wouldn't know how to find out JazzNu's real name and address from her Internet handle alone. I'm perfectly willing to believe that there are folks who can, but not too many.

I don't really seek any particular anonymity, but I do not want to be inundated by spam or be particularly easily searched by prospective employers. Seems like Colombian intelligence guy didn't find Ponchi on TAT. Either not skilled enough or didn't try hard enough ;)
User avatar
Suliso Latvia
Posts: 4404
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2020 2:30 pm
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Has thanked: 273 times
Been thanked: 1453 times

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#74

Post by Suliso »

ponchi101 wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:01 pm Because Suliso is famous. I just did what you said and googled both forms of my name (short and log version) and all I got was the profile of a famous footballer (and not SO famous) that shares it.
Maybe I have a career as an undercover agent. uhm... ;)
Fortunately not, but it would be impossible to completely erase myself from the internet. I've done PhD (thesis online) and published scientific papers (lots of databases) plus Linkedin and silly things like chemistry Olympiads at the time dinosaurs still roamed the earth. I don't think you'd find anyting embarrassing, though.
User avatar
ponchi101 Venezuela
Site Admin
Posts: 14718
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:40 pm
Location: New Macondo
Has thanked: 3855 times
Been thanked: 5561 times
Contact:

Re: Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

#75

Post by ponchi101 »

Suliso wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:47 pm ...

I don't really seek any particular anonymity, but I do not want to be inundated by spam or be particularly easily searched by prospective employers. Seems like Colombian intelligence guy didn't find Ponchi on TAT. Either not skilled enough or didn't try hard enough ;)
Tips. I don't have one single e-mail address. I have actually 4. I have one for my family and friends, and I have one for my business and professional contacts. The first one is a yahoo, the second is a gmail. Then I have a third one that I have for when I have a project and the client does not provide me with an e-mail. That one is basically dormant but still active.
Then I have a fourth that is the one that I use for things like setting up the host for this site, and for registering any and all app registrations and requirements. It is the one that I have linked to my android-phone, but I do not have data plans for my phone. Here in Colombia, it is very easy to buy a data packet so, if I am on the street and need a connection, I can buy a packet via SMS and go online, for about $1/day (usually about 500MB, good enough for business). When I am on the street, my phone is on MOBILE DATA OFF, so in theory Google can't track me
My phone is pre-paid and, again, here in Colombia basically any drugstore will sell you credit. So my phone is not registered with any credit card, as my SIM was bought with one bank record that disappeared when I switched accounts.
My name is so common that when I opened my gmail account (for professional dealings) I had to use my name AND attach my infamous 101 at the end. Any and all variations were already taken. My bank account in the USA had the same problem, as even there my name is super common. We needed a good 10 minutes to find a user ID that had not been taken already WITHIN the bank. And actually, the 101 at the end of PONCHI was needed because as it turned out, there are a lot of us on the web. And of course, almost all data that is not required is blank, and the one that is required is either false (DOB, Address, etc) or greatly limited.
A life of reading spy novels ;) I guess you learn some stuff from John LeCarre, Robert Ludlum and all the other trash I read when I was a kid. :)
Ego figere omnia et scio supellectilem
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests