earlier from a TER member I corresponded before.  To my horror, I noticed my name and those of others are included in the address field of that email.  Apparently, the member who sent out the email had entered the names and aliases of the people he knew in his address book.

Since both hobbyists and providers are addressed in that email, he practically shared their names with the group who received it.  As some of the people in that group are backchannel champions who often shared info with other providers, the damage this revelation caused would be substantial.

Even if names were not revealed in an email, not everyone wanted their email addresses be shown to others.

I understand he is not a computer savvy person.  This message is not to cast blame on anyone.  We all made stupid mistakes from time to time.  Since I gave out my full name in a member gathering we had before, I took responsibility that it would leak out eventually.  Nonetheless, I shielded my identity from other hobbyists and providers for a long time, it is sad to see that it was uncovered by a stupid mistake.

I am sure others will lecture me about the need to keep real identity a secret.  The person who sent out the email is a honorable person, otherwise I would not answer the question about my name.

It would probably be a better idea for me to keep this quiet so that it will not draw too much attention.  However, I don't want others to make the same mistake again.  I hope this will cause others to be more cautious in their dealings with others.


-- Modified on 12/29/2003 11:37:43 AM