More on RealID

[jdotmi]

If you go to the worldofwarcraft community you can see tons of posts, but I found to be the most direct and clear demonstration of the bad idea that is RealID

Yes, I'm going to go on about this for a while I think.

Comments

[reset-smith.livejournal.com]

I cry foul. It's a little too convenient. I'm sorry, but you just can't Google someone's name and bring up all their information, or use any other search site, without at least specific information as to where they live.

Even with a site like spokeo.com, where you can find detailed information on the person. You have to be able to narrow it down to city and state. I've lived in Chicago for nearly 8 years now. Before that, I lived my whole life in California. And even *with* that information, I'm not finding myself online. Maybe I'm just lucky. Maybe other people aren't so lucky.

I would just like to know this guy's search method. I have a feeling that if I challenged him, he would respond with how he has so many responses from people challenging him, and how he can't look everyone up. But, again. Maybe I'm just speshul.

[jdotmi.livejournal.com]

He had a WoW character name and the person's full name. That makes it pretty freakin' easy to find someone.

I'm lucky. I have a pretty common last name and my actual first name is not something I use on, well, anything. However, it is on anything that is financial in nature, including my WoW account (gotta love credit cards).

He took the challenge someone posted on the forums. The same thing happened to a CM on the forums who posted their first and last name. You can stick your head in the sand and say "couldn't happen!" all you want, but I guarantee you it can and will happen.

[lukebacca.livejournal.com]

Okay, the Pedobear poking his head in was the first thing I saw. This will be a fun read.

[voldsom]

Thank you, glad I did actually follow that link. I know it's possible. Reading actually made me able to articulate what's been bugging me.

I think the thing that irritates me about all of the screaming is that all of the focus is in the wrong place. The fundamental issue is that all of your information is already out there on the Internet. RealId isn't putting that information out there. What RealId is and does do is provide another data point. The fundamental problem is that it's a very real and a very strong data point, and as proven in the article, it's often enough of a correlation to bring all the other little data points out there together.

I don't think RealId is a monster (the monster is already out there). I do, however, think I agree that it's a mistake. :)