In unfortunate relevance to my previous post, here is a great post about protecting yourself against “doxxing” or having your personal information posted online without your approval or influence.
There are far too many websites that gather publicly available information and make it available to anyone willing to pay a bit of money for the details, but the post (linked above) also has some great tips about not making it easy for internet attackers to get your location by things that you yourself have made available online.
Tips as simple as not posting photos of your neighborhood on public forums, or commenting on public pages about your physical address in relation to their fixed structure. In Washington state, for instance, attorneys are required to provide a publicly available address, and as a result, I became the second person in my family to be the proud owner of a PO Box. At the time I was sworn in, I wasn’t attached to a law firm, and didn’t have an office to list instead. This year the bar required a publicly visible phone number as well, and I provided a Google voice placeholder.
At some point, I may become comfortable sharing my contact information online, having my personal Facebook page be more publicly visible, or even taking part in Google +. Until people stop being horrible online, though, I’m likely to continue on as I am. Relatively cautious, and continually adapting to “the new normal”.
