wander's mandate may sound harsh to some. but he's on the right track.

i joined FB a couple of yrs ago, as i was worried about a couple of ppl, including a co-worker who was convinced she was going to die within the month. turns out she went to some Temple St fortune-teller who told her that. a young woman in her 20s, posting incessantly about her imminent death...i wondered if i shd talk to her. had no idea what was going on. there was another person i was "keeping tabs" on. no WGs.

but when i learned how difficult it is to get OFF FB, i determined that it wasn't for me. i have relatives in Europe whose albums i cd browse, whatever. but email works fine--i have separate accts for various ppl. no one can "tag" me.

there are many cases of ppl posting about how their jobs suck, only to find they are somehow connected to their boss. imagine yr SO somehow seeing yr list of WG "friends"...can't happen? have u been keeping track of FB's regard for their customers' privacy?

as we get more interconnected, privacy becomes more important. in certain US states, the police can confiscate yr mobile and plug it into a device which will strip all the info right off. yes, they have caught criminals this way. but more and more, as our privacy rights are eroded, people get used to it.

the problem is that the major-players care about their bottom line, NOT whether yr SO is filing legal papers because of what she found out on yr Google-plus or FB acct, or camera memory card, or SIM card. they want u tied into their various services, because the more users they have, the higher their market-cap. most users don't have major problems--some minor squabbles perhaps, a little useful info and a lot of fluff.

there's also the addictive nature of FB--i admit i spend more time on this site than maybe i should. but there are quantifiable benefits, as The Hobby is not an exact science. and i like to chronicle my misadventures. i think wander's approach sounds well thought out. he's explained it thoroughly and it could serve as a model for those who wanna keep tabs on WGs.

but "COMPLETE FICTION" as far as identity is the way to go. putting WGs or even fellow mongers on yr actual FB acct...don't, just DON'T. this is not a test. this is something that is likely to haunt you.

OK, off soapbox. play safe, gents.

JtB

I have actually created a complete identity for my mongering self, which I use of r mongering, AFF, and other such activities. When mongering, I don't let the girls know my real name, and I have an email set up with my alternate name and identity, and use I t if I want to keep in touch. Same with the phone, I have a separate phone that I only use for that kind ofthing as well.

The identity has now actually developed a whole history. He has a hometown, jobs hat he did, places he has been, a whole life. And bit by bit I have built it up to where I could, is pinch, answer just  about any question someone might ask about him. Is it dishonest? Well, yes. Is I t safe? In this day and age, much more so than ever letting anyone know any real details about me...

thx to u guys for helping create a paradigm for dealing with FB and other social media.

i've been keeping track of these emerging technologies for years now. and i have a friend who always accuses me of being paranoid. then in later months he comes back to me and says: "Jack, NOW i know why you were cautious about _________."

it helps if u read books by Kevin Mitnick (the original 90s hacker who honed social engineering as a tool for privacy instrusion) and subscribe to Bruce Schneier's free Crypt-O-Gram [u can subscribe by clicking HERE]). u don't have to have the mindset of "how do i break this and get someone's details" but it's good to read the thoughts of people who DO have that mindset. professionals like these have no personal stake in discovering your behavior.

your friends, enemies, frenemies, antagonists, mothers and whoever DO. they don't have the hacking skills of a Mitnick, but they have curiosity and motivation.

i don't do FB or social media, but awhile back i did what Intenseslacker described above: create a cyberpersona. i don't sign up for anything, HE does. i gave him a birthdate and other details that are easy to remember. one thing you must do with something like this is invent easy-to-remember answers for "security questions"--which are a primo way to hack into someone's acct.

for example, someone compromised the email acct of Lebanese-Mexican actress Salma Hayek (whose knickers i would eat without hummus or salsa, but that's a different story). how? all they needed was her email address, fire up the site, oops, i forgot my password. "security" question: "who's yr favorite artist?" as Hayek has publicly stated her admiration for Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, and played FK in a movie, how about "Frida" as a guess?

bam. hacker became Salma, created a new password, and started reading her emails. any attachments?

that was a complete stranger. what are the chances that someone closer to you wd have an EASIER time knowing yr email address and possible answers to "security" questions?

this is simply another part of the puzzle. now, imagine a certain person having access to ALL yr emails and attachments.

even so, email has few vectors. networks like FB have considerably more vectors.

i'm all for complete fiction on FB. the site earns advertising revenue, but according to a recent story: "each [Facebook] user on average brings in only US$4 in revenue versus US$189 for Amazon, US$39 for eBay, and US$25 for Google." yet when they IPO a few people are going to get very rich very fast. still, take another look at those numbers above. how can FB pump them up?

"Only by extracting more valuable and interesting data from its users, its only asset, can Facebook offer increasing value to advertisers and business partners."

"its users, its only asset." YOU. think they really care about the problems they might cause you due to yr private data being known by anyone and everyone?

think about it.

JtB

One of he things I worry about is running into crazy people. I actually have made pretty good use of AFF (it has it's charms, but lately I am moving more to just mongering) and I have always been scared that someone would be... Bat ass crazy and try to fuck with me. And the thing is, with a first name, a few details, and some intelligence, people CAN find you on the internet. Especially if you have a large professional presence. The ease with which they could then start seriously fucking with your life is pretty scary.

So, the alter ego. Actually, the set of about 3 alter egos. Of which this account is one,of course. But the reports are all true! I swear!

I have been concerned a time or two that the details that I put here could be pieced togethr into something incriminating. It's not that I don't trust the regular bros, but.... These posts do last for ever, and you can't delete them... Which concerns me a bit. YoU guys ever worry about that?  I mean, let's say your SO made an account here, and started digging around.... There seems to be no "oh fuck, delete the evidence!" button to press if you thought you might be busted from some one doing some sleuthing.... And there are a LOT of lurkers on this forum... Who knows who they are...? Or what they are doing...?

Thoughts from the crowd?

[ Last edited by  Intenseslacker at 26-2-2012 14:04 ]

Actually, as I recall it, this is precisely what happened to one of our bros who had reached Kinky king status; his wife hacked his account and started trashing his name and even posting up his picture.

Quickly the Mods came to his rescue and deleted all these posts that his wife put up and then banned his user account. But of course the damage was already done.  But I always remembered that case and am always quite careful accessing our  and other sites that I wouldn't want the SO to know I go to.

So all the above warnings etc DOES hold water/should be heeded by all of us here...besides the SO, there ARE also a LOT of bad people/bad stuff going on the internet.  Sigh....

SEAJ

Shit ya --- I think about it all the time!  I am sure spouses have been lurking and snooping a lot.  

Every post I write I review with the thought in mind "would my SO recognize the details?". I have consistently made certain errors in the details I provide for exactly this reason.  

Plus, my username/registration email is one I ONLY use for my evil-deeds accounts.  Never "taint" it by using it on any civilian website.

BTW:  my mate just ditched his Iphone.  His wife learned how to track the family using the GPS feature.  He can't turn it off or she'll be suspicious.  Pretended he lost it and now just uses a cheapy.  Haha --- fuckin technology!!

Good god.... I hadn't even thought about the GPS feature on the iPhone... I gotta lookinto that.  That's trouble brewing! God knows, there are a few places I'd never have an easy time explaining...

And yeah, I never ever use my "mongering password" anywhere but the sites where Iuse my mongering ID, and when I made that password, I went to one of those "make a random password for you" websites, and made sure it had nothing to do with me at all... Also, none of my "alternate egos" have the same birthday, hometown, first name, or anything in common with me. Or the same age. And on anything that makes me give info for them, I always put the bare minimum, so the lies are easier to remember.

I have been mentally debating how much I can get away with altering details here while stil being true to the spirit of the site. I've decided that changing some dates is within reason, but I am wondering what else I can do to keep my reports useful and honest, and still have some plausible deniability.... Ideas?

On the good side, once you are in a room with door shut and a WG naked next to you... That's noting anyone but you and the WG ever know a Damon thing about, so you can talk all you want about it. Who would know?

On this point, I think there's a real advantage to WGs over civvie ONSs and AFF meetups: most WGs don't want to be involved in your life at all, so as long as you're cool to them, and I don't do anything stupid, the chances of them hunting you down In your civvie life are minimal. Especially if you never punt in your hometown. Which is a damn good rule if you can keep to it. But honestly, if I lived in HK, there is no way I could ever keep that discipline. God knows, it's hard enough where I DO live, which I is far far less WG friendly.

Besides, from what I've read, a deleted private message on fb is not deleted at all. They still keep it. Not so private as you'd think.

Yeah, nothing is deleted from their servers

Google is starting to get frickn nuts too ---- trying to insist on adding an mobile number to "secure" your gmail email account.  FUCK OFF already!  Yeah, like I want to link my mobile # to my discrete email accounts!  Shite!  They are getting REALLY persistent in trying to get you to add a #.  

The world is going crazy with the erosion of privacy.

I thought google and facebook was banned in china though?

really? i have a google email account and they are not asking me for a phone number.
maybe this is something only in HK?

Just registered an account for my SO last week but there isn't a need or mobile #....Maybe I should check on it?

Just wait... They'll start asking at some point.  I have a few gmail accounts - some they ask for a mobile everytime I log in and force me to opt-out before going further.  Yet on my other gmail accounts they have never asked.  Why?  I have no idea.  Guess they're doing it gradually -- the way FB is trying to ease in that Timeline thing -- a few users at a time.  

Anyway, I find it atrocious the way all these services are trying SO HARD to get our personal and private information.  I find it even odder how freely some peeps are willing to give it.

These things are slowly but surely creeping into our lives... all the BS about privacy is just BS.....

FB is one of the biggest culprit here in creating a database of all the users' info. I think they probably is planning some kind of mental control invasion in the future   hahahaha...

gmail is not safe too. Check out this link. http://news.yahoo.com/how-to-rem ... b-data-history.html

google is getting too all-powerful. got to stick with the smaller players like hotmail. the irony.

i spend some time on myredbook, and there were a few girls on there that had myspace pages. i would think they would keep there work and family life separate but they dont. i made a fake myspace account and added one then another, next thing you know i had quite a few wg's on that fake myspace account. anyways i was just shocked they exposed themselves out like that.

does anyone here think about this site, it compiles some info on us, the amount of time we spend on line, what we post, the email address we gave a long time ago when we registered to participate on the forum, and most important, our IP address.

I do not know about you lads but my internet line uses a fixed IP rather than a typical home internet arrangement with a "leased" IP that changes from time to time. Anyone wanting to know who I am could simply follow my IP back to PCCW where there are business records and then I am in the shxt.


Just my two clicks

Keep on mongering