How to protect your privacy?

[PsyDGrrrl]

So I've just discovered (in the midst of dealing with a stalker) that ANYONE can buy your personal information online. Your address, your unpublished phone number, your CELL PHONE number.

I'm pissed off, and I'm freaked out. I think this is a particularly troublesome issue for those of us who work with disturbed clients. These sites say you can have your information removed if you send them a formal request...but there's no guarantee they won't relist it as soon as they get another "public record report" of you.

What do you think? What can we do to protect ourselves? Should we bring this up as a professional issue with APA and hope that all of our fees will go towards some real lobbying for our professional protection?

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[Therapist4Chnge]

Most of those websites are bogus and only gain access to publicly available information, so it isn't anything 'new'. Of course, if a person were to dig, they could find a lot of information about people. Tax records, marriage licenses, etc.

I think taking moderate steps to ensure privacy can go a long way (unlisted phone number, setting clear boundaries with your patients, not sharing personal information with them, etc)

-t

 

[Aura5]

It is creepy. But look at this way. Your client could wait outside and follow you home if he/she really wanted to, anyway. When there's a will, there's a way - as they say. So...I'm not sure how much help getting rid of those info-buying sites would do anyway. I mean heck, someone I knew had someone lightly "stalking" her for a bit, just from walking to class one day, crossing paths, and talking to him for 2 seconds. But it doesn't mean she should never leave her house again because she could accidentally bump into someone who wants to stalk her.

So yeah. There are certainly precautions one can take for sure, but it's like T4 said about setting those boundaries in the sessions and just being conservative in what you have out there. Since, as I think, someone could do it if they really wanted to anyway.

Sorry to hear you're dealing with a creepy situation currently, though...