Online privacy. Is there such a thing? We hear about every day, someone's personal information was leaked on to the internet. It doesn't even have to be specific information it could be a picture or just a comment made in a private conversation. Now I'm no expert but I think I can share my experience on feeling that my privacy was invaded.
This actually happened this morning. Someone decided to post my personal cell number onto a website. This website is maybenow.com. It is a site where people ask questions and receive answers. Apparently someone asked what pop-star Justin Bieber's personal phone number was. The page where this was asked started 8 months ago and has hundreds of people's phone numbers posted on it. As you would expect the majority of these people take the posts seriously and call the numbers expecting to hear the love of their life answer the phone.
My number was posted at around 4:00 am on Feb. 20, 2011. I was sleeping and I recall hearing my phone ring several times. When I awoke I found dozens of calls made to my phone from numbers that I had never seen before and another multitude of texts awaiting in my inbox. Not only was I wondering what had happened, I started wondering what the heck people were talking about when they said "hey is this JB" and "is this really justin bieber?" I actually know who posted it and I have made it aware to them that I am not pleased with their actions. This person unfortunately made their defense that they had asked me if they could post my number on to the site. Understandable it seems, but when the question was asked during a phone conversation I was literally half asleep. I did not respond to the question because I fell asleep on the phone. The person who posted my number said didn't even try and say that I had answered yes during my sleepy conversation, they simply said "well i asked you if i could", implying that simply asking constitutes a response of yes. So if I were to ask this said person if I could step on their shoe and they didn't respond and I went ahead and did it that that would somehow justify what I did? Of course not. It is a terrible thing that this happens so often and it is unfortunate that a website like this lets things like this happen without consequence.
The point is, what give someone else the right to put your information online for the whole world to see? I give my number to those who I trust and apparently some people cannot be trusted. What are your thoughts? Make suggestions to add and maybe some useful facts. Thank you.
