Think Facebook is a Privacy Minefield?

LOL.

A few minutes ago, I got a phone call. I didn't recognize the phone number, so I ran a quick Google search. One non-membership site told me that the number belonged to a male, that it's a Verizon landline, and what street in which city that landline is located on. It also gave me the guy's first and last initials and let me know that he uses "dating sites".

Another site gave me the guy's first and last name, a street number to go along with the street name, and a zip code. It let me know that he's "associated with" a female of the same surname, but doesn't specify their relationship to each other. With a little help from Bing/Virtual Earth, this site also gave me a map showing the location of the guy's residence, as well as giving me options to get directions to his house or to view his neighbors. That last bit is neat! I got to see an aerial photograph of the entire neighborhood, with each house labelled with its occupants and their phone numbers.

I can see that this guy has a pretty nice house, even if it does look just like some of the houses that surround it. It's a two-storey house with a fire place and a two-car garage.

A little more poking around, and I even know two of the cities he has lived in previously, and that he's is into ham radio!

I did discover one discrepancy, though: The web can't decide if the guy at this phone number/address is 65 years old or in his early 30s. That's OK, though; I didn't really need to know any of this.

What you need to know, however, is that while people bitch and moan about Facebook's privacy problems, if you're on Facebook, it's because you signed up for it. Does that justify privacy policies that aren't user-friendly? No. But, again, you signed up for it. The same can't be said for all of the other sites which will gladly cough up your personal info with neither your knowledge nor your consent. That poor guy whom I could now stalk like a mofo, were I so inclined? All he did was dial my phone number. Or maybe he just allowed someone else to dial it on his phone.

And do you want to know what I found when I searched Facebook for this guy that I now know so much about?

Nothing.

On Facebook, he doesn't exist.