Chixe

I RARELY ever even use my full name.

Facebook I have no problem with my last name but that's as far as I go personally.

I never put in cell phone numbers, locations beyond Oklahoma or anything else.

I don't get it either.

I also email or PM verify ALL friend requests on things like Facebook so I know I'm not opening myself up to morons.

To be fair, I think the concept of 'friendship on the web' needs thought but not necessarily 'friendship in person'. Friends that are in the real world know your phone number, directions to your home, your children's name, your place of employment, even your boss's name. They know your hobbies, politics and religion. It is mutual.

I don't mind giving out a lot of info, I don't have anything to hide. I don't give out my phone number publically because I don't want more telemarketers than I already get. I'll give out my business number more easily than my personal. Birthday, place of birth, current town... none of that bothers me to give out. It would still take a fair amount of work and cleverness to use those things in any form of identity theft.

Social networking has really trounced on the term "friend." I'm sure none of the designers planned on that exactly. I actually only have people I know on my facebook. I don't seek out anyone, and reject everyone I don't know who asks to be a friend (without reason.. I'll accept them in some cases.)

Exactly why I don't think it's even needed to publish it.

If you KNOW me you have my contact information or know how to find me.

I've commented on this in the past as well. The problem is potentially even worse for those who put their entire life online. Read someones myspace/facebook page or their personal blog for a while and soon you'll know the names of family members, kids, their employer, birthday and a few recent large purchases. Armed with this, it is not that difficult to convince a lowly bank employee or city registrar that you've lost your wallet.

Mary

I don't like putting my phone number on those kinds of sites. I'll usually add the city/state that I live in too. I no longer add my IM name because I was stalked by a previous employer and things that were in my IM profile that only my friends were meant to see almost got me fired.

Aside from re-evaluating friends, I think people can also think more about their privacy settings.

I never put phone nor address online. I say in which city I live, but its a big city. Even when registering domains I don't use my home address or phone. You never know what crazy person might be looking for you.

my phone number is out there, i use my real name. The people who legitly use this information do not have the time or patience to dig through and "find" me.

It's somewhat like some laws in the United States, where the people the law is intended to punish get away easy and unpunished and the people who the law is intended to protect are punished instead.

I also have mostly friends on Facebook whom I know in person. Mostly. But the phone number is a definite no-no (I rarely answer a call when there's "No Caller ID"), and so is my birthdate. I guess the answer to that is Well no, Tyme, I don't believe I divulge my personal information out very freely at all. ;)

I am fully willing to put my email address, birthday, and home town online - I don't see any harm in it. It would be very hard to do an identity theft from this info. You see, most of the tihngs I share are the digital variety, email addresses, screen names and such; meanwhile, most banks will be checking for the traditional identifiers: licenses, phone numbers, social security numbers.

I have been able to recieve online calls without divulging my info by using GrandCentral, which lets you forward some calls to your phone number. However, nobody online knows my real phone number. If anybody wants to give it a try, I still have some invites.

I never give out my full name on personal websites. I have refused to register for personal websites asking for that info. I give freely my usernames, date of birth ( most places have to verifty if your over 18 so you can't get away with not giving that anymore ) and my email address. I never give out the email from my internet provider or my home address or telephone number.

I have a friend who doesn't give out anything! She thinks its like a mad system. Once its on one website it will spread and it will come back to bite ya in the end.

I dont really worry about identity theft as much as cyber stalking that goes on. If you think about not everything is hacking proof. There are ways around getting peoples information. Like most people dont even sign up for privacy protection when they buy a domain and that information can be looked up.

I give everything save for my phone numbers and addresses. It's not that I'm not worried, it's just that for the most part, I've got nothing to hide.

Besides when it comes to social networking, I never ever authorize people I don't know. There has to be some connection there to begin with before I authorize them in the first place.

Maybe Facebook should have a relationship by relationship basis on how much information you can display. Kinda like Family can see everything where as people you just met can see what you want them to see. It makes privacy better when you think about it.

Because I have nothing to hide and "the truth will set you free." It has taken me a lifetime to learn this.

I think its because the vast majority of Internet users these days missed out on the BBS days. Yes, the days of 300, 1200, 2400, 9600, 14.4, 19.2, USR single line dialup.

Back then your handle was your life, you didn't give out any info. There was a weird mystique that surrounded it back then. Now the online world is a friendly happy place, or at least that is what people are naive enough to think. I myself have fallen into that mindset oh so many times.

There are so many different sides of the spectrum I could talk about, just from this one posting.

First of all, absolutely ANYONE can get a hold of your personal information if they know what they are doing. All I need is a name or an address, and you really can't hide your address. I can't tell you how many times on youtube, I have seen a video that is really controversial, and someone, like clockwork, posts all the personal information of that person in the video, to the dumbfoundment (yes, I made up this word) of the person in the video. Then from just that simple phone number and name, people pull up address's, cities and states, and once the person changes their phone number, they get the 2nd phone number. If someone really wants to get ahold of your personal information, there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop them

Second of all, there is really no such thing as privacy in todays world, it is just yet again another thing that people tend to believe. I can pay 15 bucks to get a background check on pretty much anyone I want. Do I do stuff like that? Never. Could I if I wanted to? Absolutely. I can do a reverse look up, type your name in, and get all SORTS of information.

Third of all, ISP's know all your personal info. As of a couple of month's ago, the FBI initiated a wire-tapping program, and Bush actually passed a bill, giving the FBI pretty much power to wiretap almost anyone they want, without you knowing, and there is nothing you can do about it. It's against the law and the constitution to do such things, but such is the corruption of our government and nation, but that can be saved for a completely different argument.

I usually just give up my e-mail, and I use different screen names. I try not to use my real name unless it's a legit website (which is another issue, giving information to a website that keeps your information confidential, as opposed to a site like facebook that keeps your information for basically a lifetime).

But I know that if someone seriously wanted to find me, I gather it wouldn't be hard. People are real good at tracking other people down. I could give the Fake Steve Jobs incident as an example of that.

I don't get comments like "I don't have anything to hide"... you do: it's called privacy - look it up. 8) That approach might have worked in a small tribal community, where everyone depended on anyone else, but now, anything you put out there will be exploited. Imagine if you had "phone spam"... oh wait, we do, in the form of automated cold calling.

I've been very strict about giving out any unique personal information online - perhaps too strict? It helps that I don't use any of these "social networking" sites, such as Facebook or Bebo (which is huge here in Ireland, for some reason).

My phone numbers are never disclosed except when I buy something online, and they might need to call me (e.g. to take delivery): phone calls are such an interruption that I NEVER want random strangers calling me for any reason, and (currently) they don't get to.

My real name, well, I'm starting to relax that a little, on a couple of forums frequented by professionals in my fields (engineering, bass playing), where a real-world presence is not an invitation to exploitation.