I see lots of friends over on Facebook getting all in a tizzy over their personal information being displayed on spokeo.com. Most are worried that their privacy is being invaded. The general concern is that their information is searchable on this site, and that they didn’t authorize it. Well, I hate to break this to you, but… you actually did. But how did I authorize it, you ask? And how do they get that information?

How does Spokeo.com get that information?
In a nutshell: all of the information that you see on spokeo.com is publicly available already. This is information that is found in the phone book white pages, real estate listings, government documents and records, and most importantly… all of the public profile listings on your favorite websites like Facebook, Yelp, MySpace, Flickr, LinkedIn, Amazon… and the list goes on.

How did I authorize it?
Two words for you: privacy settings. Every site that allows you to create an online profile (like the ones listed above) also allows you to adjust what information is made available publicly. The problem is that most of them, by default, have many details set to be public. It’s up to you to keep that info from becoming readily searchable online.

Example: I have an account at flickr.com, and on that account I have my full name listed as my “screen name”. I do this by choice because I make money on the site as a photographer and Flickr is a great way to market myself. A simple google search for my full name shows my Flickr profile as the fourth item in the results. Is this an invasion of my privacy? No. I put my own full name on a publicly searchable item on Flickr, and thus I’ve authorized my full name to be found quite easily via a web search.

You see all of these photo thumbnails here on my web site? All of those are publicly viewable, so they will show up in the Spokeo.com search results. I posted them on Flickr as viewable by everyone… and that really means everyone.

This personal information can be found by anyone on the web. The ease of finding the information is dependent on how adept they are at searching the internet. But, Spokeo.com just does all of that legwork for them. And guess what? They are not the only sites that do this sort of thing; Pipl, ZoomInfo, ZabaSearch, Radaris, and Intelius. Technically, these sites are not doing anything illegal as the information they are presenting is freely and publicly available to everyone.

So, what can you do about it?
You have a couple of options.

1. Don’t ever share anything on the internet, especially on any social networking sites. This is a bit drastic, but you’ll be guaranteed to keep your private information private. Of course, keep in mind… you’ll have to be unlisted in the phone book, and never do anything that has to do with the government.
2. Get to know the privacy settings on the sites that you use and make the necessary adjustments accordingly.

To lead you in the right direction, go take a look into the privacy settings on Facebook. If you see anything that is set to “everyone”, you can consider that information available publicly and searchable on the web. I always tell friends to modify every Facebook privacy setting so that “everyone” is not selected. And an important one is the Public Search Results; Do you want people to find your Facebook profile page via any internet search engine? If not, then keep this box unchecked. I’ve sent this link out to folks before, and is great for understanding your settings on Facebook: 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know. The locations of settings and verbiage on Facebook may have changed since this article was written, but if you spend some time you’ll be able to find everything you need to set.

Oh yeah, and why do these sites exist at all?
Simple: money!! They are trying to get you to pay them money to find more information about the person you are searching for. Just go to Spokeo.com and search, then click on the “see full results” button. You’ll be promptly directed to their Purchase page. But, it’s likely that you will not find any more detail about that person than what you can find with a simple web search engine.

Very important to know this: Completing the form on spokeo.com to remove your information will not remove the information from where spokeo.com found it. To do that, you’ll need to do one of the two options I’ve noted above.

Here’s the scenario: I have a .BAK file of the database that was hosted on a MSSQL Server 2005 at my previous employers data-center. I need to re-create that database on a hosted MS SQL Server 2005 system at GoDaddy.com. No worries, I thought. I will just create my new database, do a manual back up of it. Then restore it and point it to my .BAK file from the previous server. That concept is old-hat to me, as I’ve done it countless times… on systems that I have complete control and access to. This time it’s on a server that I have limited access to. GoDaddy only permits SQL restores from files that were created by the host system, and stored on it’s local disk. And… I have no rights to place my .BAK file onto the host db server. So, I put on my thinking cap and thunk this one out.

Now, I must fully expose that I am not a SQL DBA in any way, shape, or form. Systems Administration is my background… I can install, configure, and maintain the heck out of a MS SQL database. But, I have extremely limited skills with SQL programming and queries. So, here’s what I came up with:

I have SQL 2005 Express running on my Vista system. Figured I could use that to my advantage here to get the data moved. I’ll break it down into pieces. I have SQL Express connected to my local instance, as well as the remote instance.

• Create a new database (in my local instance, I created a new database… we’ll call it dbFOO)
• Make a back up of dbFOO
• Do a restore of dbFOO, and change it to grab the data from the .BAK file from the old system (this is the step that I would have loved to be able to do on the remote database server)
  • Change the options so that it overwrites the existing database
• On the remote instance, create a new database named dbFOO (db names must be the same since we’re using some queries and we want to limit how much manual editing we need to do)
• On the local instance, right-click on one of the tables and choose “Script Table as… > CREATE To > Clipboard”
• On the remote instance, right-click on the database and choose “New Query”
• In the query window, paste your clipboard contents
  • since your database names are the same, this query will run without issues on the remote instance.
• Execute the query. Boom, the table is now created on the remote instance. Rinse and repeat for the rest of the local instance tables.
  • Tip: keep that query window open, and just replace the sql script with the once for the next table and execute it. A little time-saver.
• Once the tables are created, right-click on the dbFOO database on the remote instance. Choose “Tasks > Import Data”
  • WAIT! SQL Express doesn’t have DTS built in, so how am I able to do this? I once had SQL 2000 Ent. Mgr. installed and I held on to the admin tools, which included DTS. It does spit out some errors when starting up, but I just launch dtswizard.exe and I’m able to use it for my SQL 2005 Express databases.
• Choose the local instance as your source, and your remote instance as your destination. Set up dbFOO as the database, of course.
• Go through all of the wizard steps, choose the option for “copy data from one or more tables or views”.
• Check the boxes for all the tables and make any adjustments. (I had to enable identity inserts)
• Finish the wizard and blam, there is all of the data.

Are there other ways to accomplish what I needed? Maybe so. Is this the most graceful way to accomplish what I needed? Probably not. Do I care? Nope… I got what I needed done. It actually took me longer to write this post than it did to do all the steps listed above.

If you have other ideas or ways that this could have been done, please leave a comment. I love to document this stuff for other out there that could be in the same pickle I was, to give them some ideas or help in their situation.

Here’s how it works:
Go to “Wikipedia.” Hit “random” and the first article you get is the name of your band. Then go to “Random Quotations” and the last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. Then, go to Flickr and click on “Explore the Last Seven Days” and the third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. If you are inclined to do so, use Photoshop or your favorite image editing software to put them all together.

It was a fun way for me to waste some time today. Here’s what mine comprised of:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constant_Craving
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/2444.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samzagaz/3289165478/ (cropped square)

“It works like this: if you use Flickr, go to the sixth page of your photostream and pick the sixth picture there, then post it to your blog.”

This is a shot of Melanie taken back in October at some pre-halloween thing we went to at Lauren’s church. At that moment, I remember deciding that I should be getting more shots of Melanie. She didn’t think that it was that good of an idea… as you can tell by her expression. Oh well, I like the photo.

Click for a larger view.

Brody was born in early June of this year, 6/7/08 actually. Since then my flickr stream has been chock full of photos of Brody. He is the cutest little baby you’ve seen, so it’s tough not to keep snapping pics of him. This also keeps family and friends satisfied with new photos of him; they are all very aware of his page on our site, and are instructed regularly to go there if they want to see new photos of him. This is especially nice as we (and that really means “I”) don’t have to fiddle around every week or so with sending an email out to everyone with images attached. 

Today I quickly skimmed through my photostream and estimated that since June 10th, the day that the first photos of Brody were uploaded, he is in roughly 85% of the photos I post to flickr. Another thing I’ve noticed is that my photostream gets less views now. I suppose that this means most people see thumbnails of cute babies on flickr and don’t want to look at them. Case in point: the photo in this article I took as I was carpooling to work last week. In the 10-ish hours that it has been on flickr, it has gotten just about the same number of views as each of the last 4 photos posted before it… and those have been up for 3-4 days now.

Memories. And that’s just fine with me, the main purpose of me posting his photos is noted in the opening of this very article. Even more important, is the purpose of me taking them in the first place. I take them for me and Melanie… for Lauren, for our parents, our brothers, my sister… countless friends. But, mostly for Brody. For him to have photos to look at when he’s my age. I love to look at photos of when I was a kid. To hear my parents talk about what I (and my siblings) were like when we were Brodys age.

Priorities. Being creative has taken a back seat to what is currently more important: helping as much as I can at home with a 5-month-old, and spending time with him, with Melanie, and making sure Brody gets to spend time with the extended family. So, I have lapsed in my creativeness lately, but not totally. I still get to take lots of photos, but Brody is the center of the attention of it. One thing is for sure, we will have tons of great photos of him!

Creativity. Part of me still wants to draw those flickr viewers in to see my creative photos. The ones that don’t care to look at babys, but would rather look at a blurred car speeding along. It may sound vain, but I think it’s in the blood of any photographer to want people to “want” to view their photographs. At least for me, it’s a big part of why I photograph in the first place. I like to know that people enjoy looking at something I’ve created.

It’s been gnawing at me recently: gotta get out there an take some new photos! I pass things and can’t help but think to myself: I would shoot that, and this is how I would process it. Photography, for me, is part creativity, part meditation. It gets my brain to think differently, to break away from what could be clogging it up. It helps releive stress; a head-check if you will. I’m promising myself to slowly get some creative work done and post more of it. They will just have to be well blended among the shots of Brody and other family.

McCain’s is shown first and then Obama’s.

An Endless Pool is like a treadmill for swimming. You simply swim against a constant current just as if you were running on a looped tread.

Links:
Brett’s site
Endless Pool

It’s a really great system and is great to work on as far as administration of the system. I’ve found a good amount of valuable tech support using the ShoreTel support on their site, but I’ve found some equally beneficial help on shoretelforums.com. I value the help that I find on both websites. However, I recently became frustrated when searching for the default username and password for a ShoreTel switch.

I had to telnet into this particular switch to check on most likely add some ip routes. I’d done it before but did not document the login credentials I had used previously. So, I went to the place that I had found it before: shoretelforums.com. I searched for “telnet” and the first result was a post that had a link to the ShoreTel.com support document with the credentials… only this time the link was broken.

After racking my brains for a few minutes, I remembered the password and my colleague recalled the username. I thought is was sort of strange that no one on the forums site had simply posted the credentials. So, I did just that… only to find that my post had been edited and the credentials removed. Here’s what it said:

{edit: this site is open to the public, and for security reasons, I’d rather not have this password openly available. Feel free to PM it to somebody, but not post it openly. Thanks, and hopefully no hard feelings }

Sorry, but I think that’s just plain lame. No, there’s no hard feelings… but I don’t understand the logic in keeping this sort of information ‘secret’ from the public.

I help maintain a network infrastructure with Cisco and HP core switches that I believe are much higher on the importance chain than a VoIP switch. I can go to the manufactures sites for either of these and easily find the default credentials for any of their products. What makes it so important to keep this information ‘secure’ from the public.

Well, since I can’t post the credentials on the shoretelforums.com site, I’m going to post them right here on my site!

**edit**
There is a good reason that the credentials are kept from public view. If you are not familiar with working within the VxWorks CLI, then you should be cautious when using it… perhaps not even take the risk, and just contact your support vendor. Be aware that you may cause irreparable damage to the device. If you’re unsure, you should contact your ShoreTel support vendor.

Default ShoreTel VxWorks login credentials:
Username: anonymous
Password: ShoreTel

Don’t forget to enable telnet to that device before wasting your time trying to log in:
for a phone: phonectl.exe -telneton TARGET_IP_ADDRESS
for a switch: ipbxctl -telneton TARGET_IP_ADDRESS

Now, we’ll just have the interweb search monkeys go an do their voodoo… and before you know it, when you google “shoretel telnet login” or “vxworks credentials”… let’s just see if this post gets a better ranking than the forums.

When it comes down to it, if this post helps just one poor soul quicker than going through the forums or the ShoreTel site, then I’ll be happy.

Here’s the AP article.

Check it out at Webware…

My ie7.log file (in the %windir% folder, most commonly C:\Windows\) showed some error that goes a little like this: DoInstallation: CustomizeCall Failed: 0x3f5

I was lucky enough to find a Google Groups posting that provided some insight. This funky 0x3f5 error has to do with registry permissions.

The fix? Well, since I use XP Pro… I opened a command prompt and typed this in (actually, I really just pasted it from the groups post): secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb
/verbose /areas REGKEYS
… and then hit the enter key. About 10 minutes later it was done, and I tried the IE7 installation again.

If you’re a XP Home user… you can go here to read the fix you have to do.

I now am gazing at the majestic yellow ring, and browsing the web with tabs… about time they did this. For the record… I still prefer Firefox.

Earlier this week, the managing editor for Schmap Guides (www.schmap.com) sent me an email telling me that one of my photos is on the “short list” for use in their software. Looking at a photographer’s preview release of Schmap, it appears to be software that combines maps of metropolitan areas with points of interest and photos. (i.e., for the Los Angeles Schmap Guide, click on “attractions”, then “Universal City”, and you will see a description and photo of the attraction in question)

So, I go to their special website in order to authorize them to use it… I’m thinking it’s one of the nice downtown building shots I took on a day trip last October with Mike. WHAT?… before my eyes is this photo… this is the one they want for their interactive map software? If you read the tags on the right, it doesn’t take long to figure out that it’s not only a photo from the inside of the Omni Hotel, but it’s from inside the men’s room. I sent her a reply and told her that I had several others that would be useful if they liked. She said that they’ve already widdled down a short list of photos and they’d keep my other Los Angeles shots in mind for future editions of the LA Schmap Guide. They probably will have a link to the Omni Hotel and it will show that photo. A photo of the lighting on the inside of the men’s room.

I just had to laugh. I took it right after I got done doing my business. I hope it makes it to the final release… she’s gonna let me know. Too funny.

Goes to show… you never know who’s looking at your photos on Flickr.com!

From Thomas:

At present I’ve had my Flickrstream viewed more than 400,000 times. While I’d like to think that it has something to do with my stellar photography there are certainly tips that anyone can use to increase their visibility. Welcome to the Flickr popularity contest.

Read more over at ThomasHawk.com

“I will make sure you will never be able to place an order on the internet again.” “I’m an attorney, I will sue you.” “I’m going to call your local police and have two officers come over and arrest you.” Just a few of the fun things I got to hear today from someone who said his name was Steve Phillips over at PriceRitePhoto.

read blog post at thomashawk.com

I’ve actually posted this entry directly from Flock. Very cool!
Read more here…
Download it here… Flock 0.5pre