How Much Personal Information Should You Release?

Here’s a tough question that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough - how much personal information should you release?

It is a question that every single blogger around the world should ask themselves at least once. It is also a question with a different answer for everyone. Here’s how I handle the whole issue:

The Name

First and foremost, I honestly believe there is little reason to not use your real name. Sure, if your a hacker or run a Fake Steve Jobs type of blog you have an excuse, but other than that is there any reason?

People often use ID theft as an excuse, but I’ve always used my real name and have never experienced such a problem as a result of it. Another excuse is safety… well that can be a controversial subject. Releasing your name isn’t going to result in a sudden increase in assassination or kidnapping attempts (unless you’ve been pissing off the mob). If someone really wanted to find you - they could do so anyway. Whenever you do something online there is always a paper trail, and if someone is dedicated enough they can find the person who left it.

I think MySpace is a perfect example of that. People experience horrible problems regardless of whether or not they release their name or even post a picture of themself.

“Say Cheese!”

While I have yet to ever really release a photo of myself online, I do sometimes post a picture of my ipodified-head (thank you Photoshop):

Some people release their photos, some people don’t. Once again I don’t think releasing a photo is generally going to cause any issues. Only reason I don’t do it is I simply hate getting my picture taken.

Friends/Family

I hardly ever mention my relationship to people that I talk about (if I personally know them), so obviously I don’t release their names. I understand that some people are uncomfortable with the whole “Internet thing” and don’t want their name out there, so to avoid any problems I usually just mention them as “someone I talked to said…” or “a friend of mine once said…”. I know how much information I want released about myself, but other people may have a different comfort level.

Some bloggers simply give their family members nicknames.

Age/Location

I can understand why you wouldn’t want to release your own age, I didn’t do it for the longest time (I’m 18 by the way). I think really the only time you have to worry about this is if you’re young (there are a lot of sickos out there, go on YouTube and read some comments to find 1,000s of them).

As far as location goes, I’ve always said I live near Syracuse, NY (The city with one of the worst College Football teams on the planet… Booyah!). Only reason I mention the closest major city is because most people associate NY State with NY City a bit too much, there are hundreds of towns, villages, and cities - NY City ain’t the only one.

I think releasing your location is a bit like releasing your name - generally speaking it won’t cause any issues. But then again, stereotypes can surface as a result of posting your location. If you’re a computer nerd and you say you live in Europe, some people will think “Pirate!”, if you say you live in Canada some people’s first reaction is “Canada, Eh?” , etc.

Everything Else

Well, of course you really shouldn’t be posting things like your address, SSN, credit card #, etc. That is basic ID theft prevention 101. I think the only time it is safe to post your contact address or phone number is if it is for your business.

Well, that’s it. How much info you release is totally up to you. Everyone has a different comfort level in regards to posting their info online, what is yours?

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