I was bored this morning so went looking at a few sites. i wont mention the ones involved but they all had one thing in common.
They all had a page dedicated to farming personal information via a form tag. this form tag then sent the data to a server that uses imap.
In my paranoid opinion this is just asking for the proverbial bite in the ass. Most webmail services are about as secure as your average wet paperbag. if your inclined to dispute this i suggest you look into the recent security breaches at most of the popular webmail services. The ones most of the free form generator sites use are even less secure than your yahoo account.
They also include in the post tag all the information law enforcement were they so inclined, would need to contact the mail repository service and ask for any activity from the given user for the last 30 days (most services have a 30 day backup retention policy).
What that means is you have given the requested info  to not just the person you wish to spend some quality with but also anyone in law enforcement who wants to see it.
I personally have never seen anyone who farms for info in such a fashion and i only bring it up now since i realized after chating with several of the guys at the party that most people dont understand the implications of that pretty webpage with the little blank boxes.
I understand the safety argument so i leave it up each hobbiest to decide what hes comfortable passing along we are all adults so everyone is responsible for keeping themselves secure.
If you do farm for personal info with your site i heartily recommend you make sure the information gathered is not being held on a less than secure imap server.

good luck and keep your pictures off of joes website this summer!

and info can be kept as you have already noted in secure formats.  If anyone believes they can book apts without providing some level of information unless they are established will find a problem unless the agency or provider doesn't care about their safety or security.  Taking no references is inviting trouble.  Just look at those that got busted in the recent stings.  Actually it is no different if your posting on this board which all do.  

-- Modified on 6/16/2005 4:40:22 PM

-- Modified on 6/16/2005 4:41:54 PM

Using your credit card for a "purchase", as it were, is most definitely creating a paper trail whether the agency keeps records or not. Just like charging that massage at your favorite AMP....except in that case you MIGHT not have gotten your happy ending-innocent till PROVEN guilty and whatnot.

That's one problem I envision an agency overcoming...what exactly is the "legitimate" product or service being purchased? Now if you got a T-shirt with every visit......

But I would assume that anyone who puts hobbying on plastic has considered, and isn't concerned, about the potential consequences of doing it.

And posting here, exercising our rights of free speech in discussion, isn't providing private and personal information either.

Unless, of course, you use your credit card to become a VIP member.

And buying a membership at a website is a big step from flashing ones AMEX at your favorite incall.

There are certainly plenty of personal security issues to worry over in the hobby-I won't even get started on them as it wouldn't generate any productive solutions.

My general perspective is this-if one is overly concerned about divulging personal information, nothing is going to convince them differently.

And if one isn't, then there is no perceived issue in the first place.

Risk can only be mitigated, never eliminated.

Except to never hobby at all-and what fun is that?


JustJack

its actually quite a bit different, most sites that accept credit card payments (im not going to discuss the merits or lack thereof of using a credit card to pay for a criminal act) are using secure socket encryption and take steps to ensure the safety of your data.
I am specifically referring to data farming via the popular webform format. That inherently is less secure as it has no provision for security.
this isnt about screening, that will happen and it should. my little essay was concerned with the way the information is gathered, processed, and subsequently stored.

This debate can go on for days and weeks and months.  LE has their computer experts and everyone knows any hard drive retains data.  It can pullled up and that is that.  There is no fool proof system short of taking no information which will never happen.