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#1 |
Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 8,466
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I have noticed over the past couple years a tendency for members to list some or all of their expensive camera gear in their forum signatures. I am concerned that this is an open invitation to theft.
Computer hackers have no problem locating you through your IP address and other hidden information in your profile. If they are really good, they can track the information all the way back to the computer you post from. It is my opinion that in the interest of protecting your investment (and the insurance company!), minimize the equipment listed in your signature or profile. I have already contacted one member privately who had a lot of equipment listed and he has voluntarily removed that list. I know we are all proud of our gear and don't want to lose it. Please give this some thought and if you agree, remove the equipment list from your signature. Have a Happy Holiday season and hang on to your gear. Cal |
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#2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: East of Toronto
Posts: 8,800
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Maybe we could use a coded system. For instance, if we list a Kodak Brownie, then that would mean we have a Hasselblad. If we list a Pop Flash, that means we have a Canon. Well actually we dont have to do that because nobody would steal a Canon.
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#3 | |
Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 8,466
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Cal Last edited by calr; Dec 13, 2012 at 6:30 PM. Reason: spelling |
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#4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: near Los Angeles, CA USA
Posts: 4,764
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Thanks Cal, living in a big city, I try to be very careful about protecting my ID, privacy, etc, but I had not thought about this. Sadly, you are absolutely right.
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Panasonic FZ150, FZ35 and GF1; Nikonos V when underwater ~~Art is in the eye of the camera holder~~ |
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#5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: East of Toronto
Posts: 8,800
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The sad thing about this is no matter how low we try to think about what to expect from our fellow man, our fellow man always finds a way to sink even lower. Well I can tell you this....nobody is going to steal my Brownie.
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#6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 7,370
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I work in IT and to be honest, one may gather the IP address where the post came from but to go from that to finding the user's address there is a huge gap. I for instance, post responses here from a variety of locations so the IP address goes all over the place. I personally don't list my equipment but my choice has nothing to do with fear of being robbed. One has a much much greater chance of being assaulted at a parking lot than robbed by someone who saw their expensive camera gear listed on a forum. Actually, sometimes is helpful to see one's camera list in case you are interested in a particular piece of equipment and has questions about it. You can contact the member and ask questions right there and then. In any case, that's my opinion.
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Tullio |
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#7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Australia, New South Wales central coast
Posts: 3,645
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G'ay all
From Cal to Tullio & our ol' mates Saly & Bynx with his box-brownie > you're all 'right' about this topic My 2-bob's worth is that Tullio's close to the mark in that "we & our skills" are what's important, not the lumpy paperweights we carry around our necks that is important For me - I am interested in & I love 'photograhy' .... 'camera' [as shown in the sig lines] does not interest me as the main topic of conversation Regards, Phil
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Has Lumix mirrorless & superzoom cameras and loves their amazing capabilities Spends 8-9 months each year travelling Australia Recent images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/ |
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#8 |
Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 7,204
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Like many of my compatriots I hesitate to list my worldly possesions be it camera equipment or otherwise for public viewing. TV, movies and the media in general have made us a tad paranoid about the uncanny ability of someone out there tracking us down and relieving us of those worldly possessions.
Tullio is correct, finding our physical address from an IP address isn't as easy as it appears in TV and the movies- it can be done but with lots of resources and lot's of time. Anyone with that much resources and time probably isn't going after a few thousand dollars of equipment it's probably more like what's in your banking/investment accounts or credit card accounts. However, discretion is still the better part of valor, personally I refrain from listing equipment. |
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#9 |
Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Savannah, GA (USA)
Posts: 22,378
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Detective work....
I do a bit of detective work almost every day; trying to figure out if new members are spammers or not. Yes.. I can see IP addresses that members post from. So, that allows me to see where the posts are coming from, and check databases maintained by sites tracking spammers to see if an IP address is listed or not. Virtually any web site you access will know the IP addresses of all users visiting them. I also check registration e-mail addresses, and more. Of course, it's very simple to see the ISP and location associated with a given IP Address. Ditto for their registration e-mail address (as users will often use the same e-mail address elsewhere, where you may find more personal information about a person using that address). But, even without that info, just searching for a member name that a new member uses can turn up interesting info; as it's very common for members to use the exact same member names on other sites, and their profiles on other sites can have more information in them. I do that kind of research when I suspect a member is joining for the sole purpose of posting spam (i.e., promoting a web site, company, or products). But, I can see where criminals may do the same thing (using search engines like google to try and figure out if the same member name was used elsewhere and to try to find out more info about that member if the equipment in a member's profile looks lucrative). So, be careful what you post on web sites. |
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#10 |
Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Savannah, GA (USA)
Posts: 22,378
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Ditto for what you post on social media sites (facebook, etc.), as I've seen more than one report about thieves breaking into homes when people reported they were going out of town on vacation, etc.
Here's one story I just found with a quick google search (and they are many more like it, with thieves robbing people because they posted they'd be away from home on social media sites). http://www.wmur.com/Police-Thieves-R...4/-/index.html So, be careful what you post online, as thieves will probably try and gather more complete profiles by consolidating info from multiple web sites in order to find more lucrative targets to rob. |
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