Google Stalking

[Bloggeries]

Lot's of talk about Google Stalking recently. Title says it all really. In today's information age it's becoming easier and easier to stalk someone especially if they use their real name and are active on the web.

http://www.googlestalking.com/
People Over Process » Is Google Stalking OK?

Supposedly it's a hot trend right now. What are your thoughts on it?

[sadiessay-so]

I think it's scary. If I wanted people to know where I live and what I'm doing with my life, I'd let them know...

[pinsanon]

It works the other way too. There was a guy on an internet forum who had a strange fascination with me. He started friendly, then went a bit odd, then went full-blown loony-tunes! While it remained on the forum I mostly ignored it (as enough people to stick up for me/tell him to do one) - but then when he wasn't getting the attention he craved he took to social networking sites and continued posting trash.

I used google to find out pretty much everything about the guy, and in the end went to the police with the information as it boiled down to harassment (it was either that or send the boys round). His multiple forum/email addresses turned up some really weird stuff he was into - and even a picture. He quickly tried to cover his tracks with tales of hackers and work colleagues using his computer and has tried to re-register multiple times on the forum. I spotted him at an event and thought about saying something, but thought better of it in the end (besides, I'm about 3 times the size of him ).

Joking aside my wife was pretty worried that anyone was that obsessed with me.

[Gabriel117]

Very interesting articles. Thanks for sharing them.

[rhondareynolds]

i do some low-level stalking of people on google. You know, I wouldnt dare call a c-level exec for until i googled him and got a full background. I also google new and potential co-workers and clients. Its second nature

[martyn11post]

I love looking through my stats to see who has googled my name, I then trace the location, I can then usually narrow it down to one of my friends. There's the odd one that makes no sense, but I suppose a bit of mystery is always good fun! Although I have been asked out once via the internet, apparently they got my name off the bottom of a receipt for a shop I worked for and searched for my facebook profile. My name being fairly unique, I suspect it wasn't to difficult!

[Gabriel117]

Originally Posted by martyn11post

I love looking through my stats to see who has googled my name, I then trace the location, I can then usually narrow it down to one of my friends. There's the odd one that makes no sense, but I suppose a bit of mystery is always good fun! Although I have been asked out once via the internet, apparently they got my name off the bottom of a receipt for a shop I worked for and searched for my facebook profile. My name being fairly unique, I suspect it wasn't to difficult!

Pardon my ignorance, but can you share how you do this? I'd be interested to know. Thank you.

[Bloggeries]

People can also launch smear campaigns of making many false accusations about someone on many different high ranking sites so the first pages of google are littered with bad news.

That said I've seen people do the same thing to write GOOD things about themselves so popular opinion is pushed back starting at like page 6 or so lol.

I like the pen name Rob Bloggeries.

[flashgordon]

I'm not too afraid of virtual stalking, but when the virtual and real worlds merge, as they are starting to do, that is scary. Pretty soon, your credit cards, credit reports, etc. will all be tied into information bundles that can be accessed to those with money. It is actually already happening thanks to Bush and his pushing back the privacy laws in terms of telecommunications. Every cell phone call is already screened by computers looking for keywords. When that keyword is found, they begin to record the conversation, cell phone id numbers, locations, etc. for later scrutiny to see if you are "not a friend of the US." Totally illegal, but it is still happening right now.

[Bloggeries]

Originally Posted by flashgordon

I'm not too afraid of virtual stalking, but when the virtual and real worlds merge, as they are starting to do, that is scary. Pretty soon, your credit cards, credit reports, etc. will all be tied into information bundles that can be accessed to those with money. It is actually already happening thanks to Bush and his pushing back the privacy laws in terms of telecommunications. Every cell phone call is already screened by computers looking for keywords. When that keyword is found, they begin to record the conversation, cell phone id numbers, locations, etc. for later scrutiny to see if you are "not a friend of the US." Totally illegal, but it is still happening right now.

That is due to the Patriot Act that was passed under the Bush Administration correct? The world is definitely changing and isn't it legal to do now as bizarre as that sounds?