A bad rap on RapLeaf

If you’re waiting with baited breath for a recap of my PEI adventure, I’m so sorry. It’s one of those times where you have so much to say, you don’t know where to begin… and so, you just… don’t. It truly was the most fantastic trip; I’d even say it exceeded my expectations, which should tell you a lot if you had any inkling of how high those expectations (simmering in the back of my mind for 17 years) really were.

I was actually going to cop out by posting a link to all my PEI photos on flickr, but then RapLeaf happened. And I got a bit freaked out.

What’s RapLeaf, you say??

RapLeaf is a creepy stalker’s dream come true. It’s basically a website where you go and type in someone’s email address… and, like magic (evil, black magic, that is) you get a page with links to every single place that person has a web presence – blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, flickr photos, you name it.

So, of course, I checked my own email. And even though my flickr account does not have my real name anywhere, it showed up with a link to ALL my photos. Now that scared the pants off me. I thought I was being pretty incognito by not including my name. I also purposely didn’t tag any of my photos so they wouldn’t come up in searches.

So that’s why there will be no more links to my flickr photo showcase – I set them ALL to private. If you try to access old flickr links, you won’t be able to, either. Sorry ’bout that. But all is not lost – you’ll just have to sign up for a free flickr account and then request to be my friend (or just send me an email with your flickr username and I’ll add you). (Mom, Dad… don’t worry, I’ll set this up for you next time I’m home.)

In the same spirit, I revisited my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles to ensure that they were set to the highest privacy settings (they were) and made sure my email address within the Rapleaf photo was set to private, but it still creeped me out.

If you are part of the web 2.0 movement and have imprints of yourself all over the web, I urge you to go visit the RapLeaf site and make sure you are managing what other people are able to access. It’s not that I think social networks and the like are all evil… they serve a great purpose in our lives. I just feel that you should be aware of how available you are making yourself to people who aren’t necessarily your friends or family – including creeps, weirdos and marketers drooling over all the juicy data they’re collecting at the expense of your privacy – and make sure you understand the dangers.

Read more about RapLeaf:

ZDnet article with more info on how marketers use data collected by RapLeaf

Post spinning RapLeaf as a reputation management tool in the world of online buying
(I’m sorry, but how the hell do my flickr photos have anything to do with my reputation as a reliable eBay buyer?!?)