I was talking to a coworker about these new phishing attacks that send your name and address and sometimes a picture of your house, and I was saying how creepy it is, and they told me that phonebooks were delivered to everyone and used to have like literally everyone in a city listed by last name with their phone number and address. Is that for real?

  • WoahWoah@lemmy.worldOP
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    2 months ago

    Hmm. Thanks for your response. It does it across across about 600 databases, and they have power of attorney to initiate the removals and follow up, etc.

    I guess I just didn’t like that it was so easy to just Google my name and then have my address. It did help with that, but maybe you’re right that it’s kind of pointless in the bigger sense. I guess I’m just trying to keep someone IRL that gets pissed at me for whatever reason from immediately knowing where I live. I feel like most people aren’t going to work very hard at it.

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Yeah, and it’s not like you want the information out there, it’s just that in my opinion it’s not something I would pay money for. Having the authority to make the request doesn’t mean that the party on the other end is obligated to comply, or in some cases even legally permitted to.

      I’ve used Google’s service where they send you an email to review results if they find something, and my Google results for my incredibly distinctive name are basically only professional resources that I kinda want to be findable.

      • WoahWoah@lemmy.worldOP
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        2 months ago

        Yeah that makes sense. Though, hopefully more states (or the fed) follow California, Connecticut, Colorado, and Virginia’s lead in passing right to be deleted and stronger digital privacy laws.