VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Mike Harrison]

On June 22, 2014, I began a thread here that spelled out a too-coincidental "mystery." People with whom I had no connection on LinkedIn but who I contacted outside of the service (but using the GoDaddy email account that was in my LinkedIn profile) just so happened to show up in the "People You Might Know" box on my LinkedIn home page the very next morning.

Some time later, the exact same thing happened again, with a different person, under the same conditions.

So I deleted my GoDaddy email address from LinkedIn at that time and replaced it with a different one and, within the last couple of weeks, I changed it again.

Yesterday, my GoDaddy email account – the one I had "permanently" deleted from my LinkedIn profile last June – received a LinkedIn connection request.

In my opinion, LinkedIn is NOT to be trusted on any level regarding our data and, if this is an example of "don't worry; your data is safe with us (no matter who says it)," I'm glad I've never uploaded a single byte to "the cloud" and will never do so.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[vkuehn]

In recent years I began "administration" of a web site for a local political organization. I have an email address that does not identify me in anyway that is listed for "Contact the Webmaster". Oh, you cannot believe the volume and variety of email that comes my way these days. (That is a rant for another day!)

Until about six months ago, I muddled along with old fashioned dumb cell phones. All I needed was the ability to call 911 in case of a breakdown or accident, and when travelling, to call family and tell them how soon we would arrive.

I tip-toed into the Smart Phone arena and began experimenting with various AS. They all want a piece of you! I can look up a microphone or an audio cable on-line with my home computer, and 15 minutes later as I wander around in the AS on the phone... here come all these ads for the very item I just looked up on line.

Some times you are presented with merchandise that you had not thought of as an alternative. But more often... it is a "Would you please get out of my life! alternative."

I find Facebook much more meddlesome than Linked-In.

[Frank F]

Thank you Snoogle or snoopy Google. If you have a google account and have ever used chrome, you will be spied upon. There are ways to get a non-tracking browser and email account, I won't go into that here but you can look it up - on google to find out more.

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[Foog]

Don't look it up on google. duckduckgo is the search engine of choice for anyone concerned about being tracked: https://duckduckgo.com/
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Andrew Fogarasi

[richvoice]

While I applaud duckduckgo for not tracking users, I think that using it for that reason gives a false sense of security. Your online activity is recorded by multiple organizations along its route: websites, ISPs, mobile providers, etc. The fact that one of them may not "track" your activity doesn't mean that the activity is not available. Virtually all corporations will fold to the NSA or whoever wants the data that it has if the penalty for non-compliance is high enough (and I doubt some even care what the penalty is, they'll fold early because they know they'll fold eventually).

If you want to stay "off the grid," your only viable option is to pull a Walter White.

I'm not trying to say that Mike is wrong for avoiding LinkedIn, or Foog is wrong for using duckduckgo. Those are perfectly reasonable choices for any number of reasons. I just think it's important to recognize "online privacy," in some respects, simply doesn't exist.
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Cheers,
Rich
http://www.richvoiceproductions.com
@RichMillerVO

[Foog]

I couldn't agree with you more, Rich, and should have added that caveat. One of the worst things that people concerned with online privacy can do is assume that they "have it covered". They don't. Even TOR network is not secure, what chance do those of us using more pedestrian online privacy band-aids have?

Mind you, duckduckgo is pretty cute though. I have it set up as my start page, even if I do end up using google 99% of the time.
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Andrew Fogarasi

[melissa eX]

What Rich said. There is no privacy online. While the NSA gets the headlines the invasion of privacy is generally for advertising purposes - a way to get free information that will allow targeted advertising. Like asking for your zip code in the supermarket.

So make sure you get paid for the information you leave online by charging professional rates when you voice those spots.

[Lee Gordon]

When I see how many otherwise intelligent people constantly play these "What Tropical Fruit Are You" or "Name a City that Doesn't Have an 'O' in it's Name" type games on Facebook, or dutifully comply when asked to "'Like' or
'Share' if you Love Puppies, Kittens or Babies and Hate Cancer" posts, I scratch my head, especially when some of these same people, who've just surrendered more of their personal information than they realize, decry the lack of online privacy.

That said, I think some of the paranoia over what "they" know and how they found out could be a little overblown. Just as commercials are the "deal with the devil" in exchange for free TV, the sharing of some of our data is the similar deal we make for the use of the internet. In one sense, I actually welcome it. I accept that when I visit certain websites, I will be confronted with advertising, in the form of banner ads or videos or whatever. I'd rather be fed advertising based upon something I'm actually interested in (even if gleaned from my Google or Amazon searching behavior) than just hit with random ads that are irrelevant to me. One recent example actually made me feel good. Last week I bought an item on eBay for $55 and just a few days later I started to see ads offering me the same item from B&H for $359.

And I think LinkedIn may appear more sinister than they actually are because what may seem to be some secret, nefarious calculation may just be them blindly connecting whatever dots they can grasp at. Last night, I looked at the first one hundred suggestions they made as people I might potentially want to connect with. I had at least one or two connections in common with each of them. However, of the hundred, only six names were even vaguely familiar to me and only two were people I had ever met. To me, that smacks of some pretty wild computerized guesswork, based upon some not very solid information.

I do not mean to suggest that is no cause for concern or that the potential for misuse does not exist in the online world, We all have to be aware of what information we are sharing and who we are sharing it with. And perhaps equally important, we need to encourage our less internet savvy friends and relatives to be more careful with their information.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[DougVox]

I still love the blank stares I get when store clerks ask me, "Can I have your phone number, please?" Or, What's your Zip Code?" and I answer with a simple, "Nope."

They're often surprised that someone's not providing the knee-jerk reaction of, "Yeah, sure, it's 555-4245."

The few times that I've asked them about it, they've said that they almost never have someone say no.
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Doug Turkel (tur-KELL)
Voiceover UNnouncer®
UNnouncer.com

[vkuehn]

I usually get more a terrified stare instead of a blank stare.

I can produce this facial expression that was the studio model from which Alfred E. Newman was created, and with that look on my face I explain: "I go through about 600 e-mails, forum messages, blogs and junk mail every day and if I give you my information, and I get an e-mail from this store, you do understand that someone from Duck Dynasty will show up here with a shotgun and you will be no more."

Only the very gregarious know where to go next with THAT conversation.

[chrisvoco]

Threadjacking again, sorry - but this:

[Bruce]

When clerks ask for my personal numbers I like giving them four or six number zip codes off the top of my head, such as 555-555, and phone numbers with unlimited numbers. I just keep going until they stop and give me a quizzical look.

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[Mike Harrison]

[Lee Gordon]

[vkuehn]