My husband is on a talk forum. We live in Houston; the forum is in Brooklyn where he grew up. He has been on with them several years though most don't like him since he is very conservative compared to most in the forum. He is also on another local forum but under a different screen name since we are business owners and he wanted a bit of annanimoty with a hot religious topic. .
Today, one of the Brooklyn gang who dose not care for my husbands views posted to the world that my husband is on another talk forum (he named the site) and declared that he was on line there under a different name and stated the name.
HOW IN THE WORLD CAN THIS GUY GET HIS INFO? Is it legal? He clearly has been able to find out screen names and sites visited? Can he be stopped? Any wisdon on what feels to us is a dark topic would be appreciated. We feel very violated that his buy is broadcasting our business to others.
Thanks.
2007-10-02 13:36:52 · 3 answers · asked by ? 4 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
It is not so much a matter of him putting it out there. What he put out was harmless. IT IS THAT HE WAS ABLE TO RETREIVE THE INFO! That is what is disturbing. HE WAS IN MY COMPUTER!
2007-10-02 13:56:18 · update #1
Hi my friend Reba! Thanks for answering. We do have the firewalls and MacAffee. I have not ran a systems check though. I will in a few. We just can not buy into the accidental discovery theory. Nothing about the local forum is under his real identy. No profile or email. This is why we are spooked.
2007-10-02 14:28:33 · update #2
When people post thing on forum, it may carry a personality, idea, and grammar trait if you read each people message.
Your husband take a hard stand on religion and perhaps someone who more of a forum junkies must have pick his message up.
Far as exposing his real name is a violation of TOS in forum's rules but legally doesn't entitle them to go to jail or fine.
There is no legal way to stop them. He will either change his trait in his message and change his username or face humilation from bad people.
Does he like to form his own forum?
2007-10-02 13:44:46 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I assume that you have up to date antivirus software and firewall protection, did you run a system scan and check the activity log for any unauthorized access?
More than likely this other poster is also a member of the other group your husband belongs to. He may have recognized things that your husband said. Specific phrases that he used, terminology etc. It was probably more deductive reasoning than unauthorized access. Is your husband profile set up with his real name? Or is his information kept private? He may need to update his profile so that it doesn't contain any personal info. I bet that this other person just figured it out. Maybe a change in screen names and even email addresses is in order. I'm sure no one is out to get you guys based on things said in a bulletin board, but if there are extreme wackos on there maybe he should take a break from those boards.
Unfortunatly online predators are hard to prosecute, and there is quite a lot of information to be found online, but I am sure there is nothing to worry about. just continue to be as safe as possible and protect your information as best you can!
2007-10-02 21:19:33 · answer #2 · answered by Reba 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sorry but freedom of speach is still out there. The fact that he put it on the net instead of on the paper is something else. You might talk to a lawyer about the net laws.
2007-10-02 20:42:34 · answer #3 · answered by Belgariad 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋