7th July 2010, 11:46 PM
That's not really my position. The basic idea is that outing people already legitimately concerned about their safety puts them at risk. Dark Lord, imagine that instead of running for some political platform, you were instead saying something controversial enough that people started sending you death threats. I'm sure that you'd rather your address not be in their hands, right? This sort of thing isn't just in the movies, it actually happens and is a real concern.
Wow has millions of subscribers, chances are a number of them have good reason to be a little less than forthcoming about their names.
Sure, it's easy to be safe if your name is John Smith. If your name is Goliath S. Winklebottom though, maybe you're a little easier to find in local listings? Perhaps? These are people that use fake identities BECAUSE others online may have been stalking them in the past.
More to the point, I'm right and you're wrong. One of the people spearheading this, as a gesture of good will, posted his name on the board to show his confidence that nothing's going bad. In an hour, his home address, phone number, and parent's names were posted, and he's already getting pestered because of it. He's a high profile person of course, so it's to be expected most of the focus will be aimed there. HOWEVER, it doesn't take much to get on someone's radar. You guys all seem sane, but I've gotten in a number of arguments that end with "if I knew where you lived we'd see how brave you really are". Maybe I don't want them TO know that? My name is, actually, pretty common. That alone isn't enough to hunt me down. Again, I don't think I'm particularly at risk for just exposing my name. For me it's more about just controlling my own information.
It's already blowing up. Here's some more examples: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr...r.blogging
Then there's this: http://taint.rtgc.org/ Do you think maybe they might have something to fear about being "outed"?
When you say there's "nothing at all to fear" you are speaking from a position of privilege you aren't even aware of. Not everyone is in that position.
Wow has millions of subscribers, chances are a number of them have good reason to be a little less than forthcoming about their names.
Sure, it's easy to be safe if your name is John Smith. If your name is Goliath S. Winklebottom though, maybe you're a little easier to find in local listings? Perhaps? These are people that use fake identities BECAUSE others online may have been stalking them in the past.
More to the point, I'm right and you're wrong. One of the people spearheading this, as a gesture of good will, posted his name on the board to show his confidence that nothing's going bad. In an hour, his home address, phone number, and parent's names were posted, and he's already getting pestered because of it. He's a high profile person of course, so it's to be expected most of the focus will be aimed there. HOWEVER, it doesn't take much to get on someone's radar. You guys all seem sane, but I've gotten in a number of arguments that end with "if I knew where you lived we'd see how brave you really are". Maybe I don't want them TO know that? My name is, actually, pretty common. That alone isn't enough to hunt me down. Again, I don't think I'm particularly at risk for just exposing my name. For me it's more about just controlling my own information.
It's already blowing up. Here's some more examples: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr...r.blogging
Then there's this: http://taint.rtgc.org/ Do you think maybe they might have something to fear about being "outed"?
When you say there's "nothing at all to fear" you are speaking from a position of privilege you aren't even aware of. Not everyone is in that position.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)