Listen, guys and gals and nonbinary pals. I know you’re going to think this is all overblown. But give me two minutes of your time.
My current roommate and I met on Tumblr. In the first three minutes I knew her I KNEW HER ADDRESS FROM HER ETSY. She only lived three miles down and one block over from me. Once we became friends, it took me literally fifteen minutes to drive to her house.
“Okay, but you guys are friends, roommates even, you love each other, what’s the problem?”
The problem is, this story doesn’t always have a happy ending.
The problem is, in another story I’m still 32, but she’s 15 instead of 43, and I’m an asshole.
The problem is, I am an adult. If a first meeting goes wrong, I have a car, a cell phone, and a tire iron in said car that I could defend myself with. What do you have?
The problem is, if you put identifying information out in the open, it could cross paths with someone who only lives 15 minutes away. And maybe they don’t care, and maybe they’re a chill person! That’s often the case.
“But I don’t put that kind of information—”
Listen. I’m gonna tell you I went to high school at General McLane and grew up by the cove. I’m going to mention that I HATED walking to my bus stop because it was out by the highway. At some point in our conversations, I mention that I’m walking down to the corner to get some ice cream.
Go onto Google and see how long it takes you to figure out, within a quarter-mile radius, where I grew up.
I can tell you how long it took me, using only the information I just provided you: two minutes. I looked up the school and got the address. That gave me the town name. I put that into Google Maps. I found Edinboro Lake and another body of water near it. Zoomed in on the streets near that second body of water, and boom. Cove Drive, right next to an ice cream shop, opening onto a highway.
You now have a radius of less than two blocks where I might have lived.
Do you feel a little less safe putting that information out there? You should. Because I didn’t use any special programs, any elite hacking knowledge. I used nothing but Google, the name of a high school, and two offhand conversational mentions, and in two minutes I’d narrowed it down to a single block. Go ahead—try it yourself.
And yes—I can do this for my roommate, too, even having never been to her hometown. All I need to know is the name of her town and a story about crossing the street and a neighbor’s yard to get to the Walmart.
Do not put this information out there, guys. 95% of people you will meet online are legit. Many are delightful.
But some are not. And those are the ones you need to watch for.
