Some years ago it was crazy to post your picture on the internet. Crazy to post your real name. Especially your last name. It was dubbed foolish to post the city where you were from or even the state.
I have seen many many blogs, forums, personal websites, and profiles that contain this information about people now!
Well, what do you think?
Do you think we should stop worrying about giving this personal information out on the internet or should we still safeguard it?

People are basically advertising themselves on the internet, wanting online relationships or something. And this has appeared to increase steadily in the past few years.

So, what's your opinion on this?

I agree with you, the amount of 'personal information' has increased. I think its partly because there's simply alot more people using the internet (for other things than finding baking recipies) than say 5 years ago but also because the internet today is a much more friendly place than it was years back. I mean, today people shop on the internet and do their banking online.... I still very clearly remember when people did'n trust that stuff just because it was on the 'internet'...

Anyway, to answer your question; My rule of thumb is not to give any info out to anyone - full stop... but, of course, that policy is kinda underminded by the fact that everyone capable of doing a simple whois query could get just about every piece of information they would want...

i think we should stop being so foolish in holding back on what we like to do meaning using some personal info,, because the simple fact remains is internet is not safe and if some one really wants you bad enough even if your hidden with the best securities there is always a loophole to get your personal information even if you dont show it, but also if your not doing anything bad like illegal, then i dont see any harm in it,, but yet i still believe if you go into a chat server,, using personal info should still be used at high risk

just my thoughts.. so i guess my final answer is yes and no

I'm also wondering if I can trust google with my personal information too...
http://oak.psych.gatech.edu/~epic/
http://www.google-watch.org/

I don't want a personal file on me, you know?

i think advertising yourself in this sorta forum will get you nothing more than the ability to get drunk with 50 odd geeks ...

if a forum is made up of people that post all the time ant come back and dont just abandon the forum after their problem has been solved - you can get genuine "forum friends"

i have this friend where he made friends with people over a forum and even to the forum is dead he still keeps in touch via im email and other crap ...


giving your personal details on your own website is an invitation for trouble spam identity theft

giving your personal details on a forum ... well that depends on what kind of people make up the forum...

... And if the forum is open to the public to read like MSFN. As personal info increases, so does identity theft. Is it a coincidence?