Some thoughts on online privacy, and a little eye-candy too…

Hiya readers. I’ve spent a lot of time on the computer this weekend!! I wish I could tell you that most of the time was spent finding lots and lots of hot man pics to share with you, but unfortunately I spent a lot of that time trying to “clean-up” my online persona(s). I got a really big eye-opener when I decided to Google some of my e-mail addresses. If you’ve never done this before, I forewarn you that it can be more than a little unsettling!!

Over the course of my online life, I’ve probably had over a half-dozen e-mail addresses, created for different reasons. I have the e-mail address that I use for friends and family. I have one that I set up when I thought I was changing internet providers and needed a web-based inbox. I have one that I set up on Yahoo to use when businesses require an e-mail address, then torture you with daily spam and advertising crap. Setting up an address to keep all of that stuff out of my personal inbox was just about the smartest thing I’ve ever done online. Then there were a few created for more deviant online activities…. like exploring sites for cruising, finding porn, and exploring fetish communities. Perhaps all this could be best described as “social networking I’d prefer my family and most of my friends not know anything about“.

What did I learn? I learned that a lot of posts I made in Yahoo Groups and other Forums that I thought never be viewed outside of a limited audience are out there for the whole world to read thanks to the long reach of Google’s prying fingers. I found comments and messages that I posted over 5 years ago and long forgotten. It’s amazing to me that Groups and Communities that I had to join (and state that I was an adult to join) can have their group communications exposed on Google’s search page, and I didn’t even have to change from “Safe Search” to “Unfiltered” to see them.

Thankfully I had used a rather anonymous e-mail address for the vast majority of the more embarrassing and intensely private comments/posts that I’ve made over my long internet history…..and thank GOD I never gave that e-mail address to any of my personal friends or family. And while I’m at it…..PRAISE JESUS that I never used that e-mail address in any work or employment-related capacity. If I had, a blood-curdling scream would have been heard by all within a mile of my computer after searching that address on Google.

So are you still reading…..or have you opened up a new tab on your browser to search YOUR e-mail address?

I can share another thing I’ve learned from this experience. I will never, EVER, post another comment in a Yahoo Group or any other Forum that requires registration with an e-mail address. I will also never, EVER, post another comment on Rate-a-Rod.

Surprisingly Bing and Yahoo did not produce the embarrassing results that Google did, so that leads me to wonder why Google feels the need to be so invasive.

I publish this so that you may learn from my experience, and I hope you do.

And if you’re still reading this longwinded post, you definitely deserve your eye-candy, so here it is

I'm so embarrassed!

The quality of composition in this photo would seem too high for a “candid shot”, don’t you think? I suspect more likely a model posing for a photographer rather than a digital pic of a Frat Brother who passed out in the shower….but it’s more fun to think he’s the later. I’d gladly tuck him into bed so that he could “sleep it off” 🙂