Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with private

What rights do I have to protect my personal information?

notmydesk — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:54:57 -0800

I ran a red light and got caught by a traffic camera. I received a citation in the mail a few days later. Not my citation, though, someone else's. The citation showed a different car, different intersection, different driver. While examining it, I noticed the citation had a lot of personal information on it. This person's full name, his address, his date of birth, his driver's license number, and all of his vehicle information.

The coversheet of the citation had my name and address and citation number, which was one digit off from his. It appears they made an error matching up the two sheets -- I got mailed someone else's, someone else got mailed mine, and so on down the line. This was confirmed after a couple visits to the red light enforcement office and several phone calls: they messed up their mailings that day and a number of people were mailed the wrong citation.

The officers admit they made an error but say it's no big deal. I say, they violated my right to privacy by sending my personal information to a person unknown to me, and exposed me to potential identify theft or other mischief.

Just wondering what recourse you think I have, realistically. I live in Sacramento, California. Note: I'm not contesting my actual citation.

How to build a private social network with only admin-user communication?

Josh Coe — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:49:09 -0800

I'd like to create a self-hosted private social network where users can submit a photo and personal information. But when a user logs in, they should only be able to see and modify their own profile information, and they should only be able to see and communicate with the admin, not the other users. I'd like to use a CMS such as Joomla, Elgg, Drupal, or Wordpress (Buddypress?), but I'm not sure what would be the best approach.

The Bored Psychologist

chaoscutie — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:19:34 -0800

Please help me fill up my time. I am a psychologist in private practice, and thanks to the recession, I have multiple times during the week with nothing to do--this is a new experience for me, and aside from the anxiety of not working as much as I need to, I am also bored to tears. Unfortunately, it is an hour here and an hour there--never any good block of time, and although in the future I may have to rearrange my schedule and put all my hours together, at the moment I am trying to maintain hope that I will be able to fill those hours with new patients. I am sick of surfing the internet, going for walks, updating patient files, and reading whatever (professional literature, novels). Any suggestions, Mefites, for how I can spend my time more productively, or at least entertainingly?

How to deal with harassing "Private Number" calls?

one_bean — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:33:38 -0800

Please help me solve a "Private Call" mystery. I have been getting calls for years from an older woman with an accent asking all sorts of weird questions. Now that she's started calling in the middle of the night, I contacted my cell phone carrier (AT&T) and requested help with the problem. They said my only option was to switch numbers. Do I have other options? Ever since I've had this number (5 years), I've been getting calls from an old woman saying things that range from "Please help me," to "How old are you?" "Where is Ben?" and "Please teach me English." On one level, I am worried about her. On the other, I find her incredibly creepy. I've talked to multiple people at AT&T who all say there is nothing they can do because the number is listed as "Private," and that even if I were to request help from the police, they wouldn't be able to trace the number, either. Four the past three nights, she's called around four in the morning. Apart from turning my phone off when I'm sleeping (and getting a new alarm clock), what do I do in this situation?

DIY Backround checks

1830 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:48:16 -0800

How do I become my own private investigator This is not a question on how to become a private investigator, but a question on how to do the many things a private investigator does by myself. A DIY sort of thing. Like background checks, criminal checks, credit checks, records of employment and any other information I can find on some one.

I am mainly wondering about this because I wish to do it on my self out of curiosity and for my benefit, just to see how much information a person can acquire on me with my personal information and help me know what other may know when I have to such checks done on me. For the curiosity part, I would like to know how to do one myself, on myself. As for benefits, I wish to know how to do this when I hire people, (lawyers, babysitters, corporations that may be fraudulent or not legitimate) or about companies I may wish to work for (do not want to end up working for a company about to go bankrupt nor a shady one)

Any suggestions?

Can I make Firefox 3.5 ignore my visits to certain domains?

joshrholloway — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:19:49 -0800

Can I make Firefox 3.5 never remember history (but still save cookies and cache pages) for certain domains automatically but remember history normally for everything else? Basically I'm looking for a seamless and automatic way for Firefox 3.5 to simply not save history information when I am browsing on certain domains that I specify, but act normally on all others. For example, if I could enter a domain filter like *.facebook.com*, it would never save any history info from Facebook, any Facebook subdomains, or any Facebook pages. However, I don't want it to affect cookies or caching. Is there an extension or a hack I can do to make this happen?

I can has private health despite teenage suicide attempt?

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:34:35 -0800

Will a long-long-ago suicide attempt on my hospital record impact negatively on an attempt to sign up for a private health fund in Australia/on the cost of health fund membership? We're talking over 10 years ago. I was in my late teens. It ain't gonna happen again - I've run to a few doctors crying 'depression' over the years but have since figured out on my own the problem is effectively hormonal, and am on top of it - but will they believe that I'm not a bad risk because of this one event years ago?

They asked me about previous hospital stays on the phone when enquiring about costs of plans, but I forgot, then remembered and didn't want to mention it; it just feels like another lifetime ago. If I don't report something on signing up, could there be potential negative ramifications down the track?

Just what can they gain access to, anyway, if they wanted to contest a claim I made? This stuff? Records from my GP? Would they try? If I was never to have a single 'nother mental health hiccup in my life, could omitting this from an application nonetheless cause me problems when/if claiming for something entirely unrelated?

Either way - because I've never had private health and I'm just wondering - am I correct in surmising that hedging like this is WHY they ask when my last hospital stay was? Or is there some other reason?

Thanks in advance!

I don't need your stinkin public service!

mhz — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:05:44 -0800

How can I deal with bloggers uploading pictures of private events? In my small-ish community, there are a LOT of 'events,' usually a few every day. While tradition calls for most of these to be modest affairs, people have gone crazy with size and cost over the years. Specifically weddings and engagement parties, where anyone with any tangential connection will at least show up for a few minutes of congratulation. I don't have a problem with that, I do it myself occasionally.

While I'm still old-fashioned enough to think that invitations should be personal (and everyone still does make those personal invitations to everyone they might otherwise miss), it's become common for local 'community blogs' to publicize the dates, times, and locations of all of these events. This huge invasion of privacy is often overlooked, but…

Recently, they've 'upgraded.' Now they're posting PICTURES of many events online. Still many people are happy with this, and even consider this (along with the 'notifications' of the events in the first place) a public service. I hate it.

So, what are my options to stop it?

We're talking about various websites, who use many, many, photographers. Should I ever make such a party, there's no way I'd know everyone there, and there's no way I can stop people from entering. I don't like the idea of a sign asking people not to photograph (a. I have no problem with guests taking pictures, posting them to their Flickr and Facebook accounts etc, so the wording would be weird. b. It'd probably be ignored anyway).

I can't know for certain who might be doing this, although a good hint is anybody who's not family or hired carrying an SLR. Should I see learn somebody is taking pictures for one the (I think it's now 5 or 6 different) blogs, what are my rights?

These parties, despite what they've become, are privately paid for, etc, so I imagine I can throw them out. If somebody goes without making a big deal of it, can I insist (read: force) him/her to delete the pictures taken without my authorization? What are my options if they don't want to leave? Don't want to delete the pictures? Can the fact that the time/date/location has been posted online be construed as an invitation? Does the fact that someone is invited help them at all? I don't like the idea of somebody who isn't a guest taking pictures, even if they're not being published – it's still creepy. (Nobody who's there as a guest will be taking more than a few, these bloggers routinely take hundreds.)

What happened to PMI?

GatorFan2000 — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:50:14 -0800

Why hasn't private mortgage insurance (PMI) softened the blow of the real estate implosion? You can't turn on the TV these days without hearing about the mortgage implosion. People are walking away from their severely depreciated homes and leaving the banks scrambling to make up for the shortfall between the remaining mortgage balance and the current home value. One thing I don't understand however, is why private mortgage insurance hasn't softened the blow. Isn't it supposed to make the lender whole if the homebuyer walks away and stops paying? I know you are no longer obligated to pay it after you have 20% equity in your home, but I'm assuming most of the subprime borrowers defaulting on their loans had exotic mortgages that did not require them to put down large down payments (if any). I'm hoping someone knowledgeable in the mortgage industry can shed some light on this.

Do you have an MP3 of the time we played that slow song really fast?

bodega — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:16:06 -0800

Recommendations for free private digital accommodations for a retired band's media? Our band has been broken up for many years -- its members are now scattered across the USA. But, of course, we have a ton of recordings that we're slowly digitizing. We'd like to find an easy online way to share our digital archives with each other. (Mostly MP3s, but some video and pics.) There are hundreds of songs plus many live recordings. Probably a dozen or so videos.

Looking for:
* Online
* Free
* Private

I've looked at dropbox, but the free version has a prohibitive file size limit.

(I'm trying to find a solution that doesn't involve me setting up an FTP server at home.)

Thanks.

what's good about private insurance instead of NHS, for shrinking my crazy-ass head?

By The Grace of God — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:01:07 -0800

What advantage will I get from getting on my husband's private medical insurance in the UK, in terms of getting psychiatric treatment? My husband gets private insurance for us from his work. Thus far I've just used the NHS, but I wonder if I used his private insurance if I'll get a better trained, or more patient, or more willing to work with me psychiatrist, or what other services I can get to support my recovery from depression and anxiety?

I'll post what insurance he has when he gets home. Seriously I have a high stakes and high stress job now and I don't want to fuck this up.

Glasgow, Scotland if that helps. Thanks as always.

SallieMae won't cut me a deal, who else will?

SansPoint — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:12:25 -0800

How can I consolidate my PRIVATE student loans, to make my financial life a little easier? I recently consolidated my student loans through the Federal Loan Consolidation program. My payments are now over $100/mo less than before, which is wonderful... but I could only consolidate my Federal Loans, the Staffords and such. I have about $40,000^1. in loans through Sallie-god-damn-Mae, though, that I'm paying $250/mo on. I tried consolidating those through Sallie Mae, but $40,000 isn't quite enough to consolidate with them, and now they're not even doing private loan consolidation. This is bad.

There are private loan consolidation places, but... who the hell do I trust to a) be legit, b) not go out of business or go bust due to the stupid economy, c) be *really* legit, d) not screw me over. Honestly, I don't know where to look. This is, as always, where MeFi comes in.

If it helps, right now I make around $30k a year, before taxes, insurance, and other deductions at my day job, and a varying second income of $400-$800/mo (on average) at my night job. Actually, my night job netted me $17,0000 last year, but that was my only source of income and it was five days a week—I'm down to four days a week now. I started my day job in October, after graduating in May. I don't have the cleanest record in borrower history... failing out of college, missing payments due to low income, and general idiocy, but I've begun to make up for it.

Who can I trust to take these private loans, and say, "Buddy, you can pay us $200 a month, instead."? Help!

^1. All told, having only this much in loans isn't as bad as some people, but since I'm working two jobs to make sure my head stays as much above water as it can right now... well, I don't want to hear any finger-waggling on financial irresponsibility.

Hey, the grafitti on the rooftop of 111 S. Anderson, is the most creative in town!

sixcolors — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:10:14 -0800

What are some places "off the beaten path", I can explore in urban environments? For photography, and my own amusement. I know the term "off the beaten path" is usually associated rural or more remote places. That's not really my interest right now, especially that it is 20 degrees outside.

I am interested in finding places in a city that are hard to access and/or places that few people know about. If it helps, I am in southern Illinois, so the two largest cities I am near are St. Louis and Chicago. But, suggestions from any city would be fine, because I can probably find something similar here or I can keep those suggestions in mind when I travel to other parts of the country.

It can be buildings, special rooms/areas in buildings, alleys, tunnels, whatever. Occupied or vacant. A general place (I heard that NYC has several secret bars) or something specific (the St. Louis City Library has an area where the floor is made of glass).

Urban exploration, in the form of exploring tunnels and abandoned warehouses are out. I did those things in college, and now I'm looking for something new.

Private university governance principles and practices?

lunit — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:10:00 -0800

Are private universities non-profit institutions? What standards of transparency/accountability [to the student body and/or public] are they required to uphold? Examples of governance models? I'm interested in the governance of private universities. If private universities are non-profit institutions, are they subject to the same accessibility requirements as NGOs?

What minimum standards of transparency and accountability are their respective boards or "Corporations" required to uphold? [e.g. publicly posting contact information for trustees, agendas, public meetings, any rights to call "executive" or "closed" sessions, publicly posted budgets, annual reports, minutes, etc.]

What standards of transparency and accountability to the student body do private universities uphold in practice? Do you know of any universities whose highest governing bodies have particularly transparent or accessible governance policies? Particularly inaccessible? I'm interested in theory, but especially in concrete examples.

What are the standards or norms for how private universities' board trustees are selected and whom is selected? Are these selection processes subject to any sort of democratic decision-making? Are there any private universities with students that sit on university boards?

Thank you!

...international sales virgin

bonobothegreat — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:06:37 -0800

HoldmyhandFilter... I'm thinking of selling/shipping a rather expensive antique instrument to someone in Europe (I'm in Canada). I've bought stuff from online websites but never sold anything, so I'm a bit nervous and was hoping to get a bit of background before dealing with the buyer any further.

It may take a month before the deal is done (he's asking for time to raise the money), so I'm guessing if we've settled on the price in Canadian funds now, he should agree to pay whatever his exchange rate is at the time the deal goes through. I'd be happy for any advice on the best method of shipping and insuring an old ukulele.

I only know this person through Youtube comments and from his Myspace page (he seems very much on the up and up), so I assume I just wait for his cheque to clear before shipping the item.

Is there anything I'm forgetting?

Finding a private investigator.

cowboy_sally — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:15:48 -0800

Asked on behalf of a friend: I need to find a private investigator in the Miami, FL, area. I believe that most of this work could be done via background checks, state records, etc. The issue pertains to family/domestic matters. Although I've tried to find this information on my own (via ancestry.com, Lexis Nexis) I've had no luck.

So, can anyone recommend a PI agency or a service of some kind in the Miami area? Is it necessary for me to go through a lawyer? (As a side query: This question mentions a detective agency that's bonded in FL. Has anyone had any experience with them?)

Thank you for your help. Feel free to MefiMail me too.

How do I start a private practice as a clinical social worker?

marlys27 — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:31:36 -0800

I am a clinical social worker looking to start a private practice. Are there any good books that cover the basics on how to do this? if you are in private practice, how did you start? What are the main things I should know? Is it possible to make a living doing this? Should managed care be avoided? I have worked as a school social worker for many years. I specialize in adolescents and addictions counseling. Can I make a living without having to have another job? How many hours do you work as a therapist? Is it isolating? Boring? Emotionally taxing? (More than agency work?)
How do you market and promote your practice? I took a seminar about this and it turned out to be a shill for becoming a life coach - that is something I do not want to do.
I would like to do something with online/distance therapy - does anyone have any experience doing this?
If you are in therapy, what made you choose your therapist?

Trying Like Hell To Defeat The Purpose Of Encrypting Something In The First Place

ChasFile — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:04:28 -0800

How weak is it smart to allow my GPG key passphrase to get? When selecting a passphrase for my GPG key, is it important that it be maximally obfuscated (a random string of alphanumerics and special characters that is $MAX_STRING_LEN long)? Would it be acceptable to use a partially-obfuscated string that's at least memorizable? Would it be considered beyond the pale of idiocy to incorporate a word in the dictionary in the keyphrase?

Ideally, I'd like to be able to type the passphrase in from memory, and (for me) that is easiest done if – while incorporating special chars, numbers, and caps variations – is also at least based on an English word or phrase. Is that erect-a-monument-to-it stupid?

Ebooks with resale/resell rights?

acoutu — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:35:25 -0800

Where can I find legitimate ebooks with resell/resale rights? I'd like to purchase some ebooks with resell/resale rights, chiefly in the areas of bookkeeping, small business management, invoices and contracts. (Not all in one ebook.) What are some legitimate sources for such materials? I am willing to pay a decent amount for these rights -- I am not looking for $1 ebooks. I'd like the materials to be of decent quality and not full of viruses and the like, since I will be associating my own products with them. Any recommendations? Thanks.

Ooh, what's inside there?

sixcolors — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:43:46 -0800

So what's inside areas that are closed off to the public, in buildings? I know places like hospitals have certain areas that are closed off to the public because they are morgues, have hazardous materials inside, or whatever...but there's other places I have trouble guessing why they restrict access.

Some examples:

On my campus, the library, business, and education buildings have areas where students and sometimes faculty aren't allowed. Same thing with the dorms, but it is even weirder. Some of the stairwells are locked. Isn't that a fire hazard? One of the dorms obviously have a fourth floor, yet no one lives up there, and you can't get there from the stairs or elevator.

Not too long ago, I looked at the floor plan of my favorite casino, and noticed that there was at least five rooms that didn't have a number or name.

As for elevators...I sometimes see keyholes instead of buttons on certain floors. It's usually the very top or very bottom floor(s).

I don't know if this is urban legend or not...I heard that the 13th floor in some buildings aren't open to the public. Superstitious much?If that's true, what's there?

maternity leave questions

Snoogylips — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:36:35 -0800

I am working as a home health aide in a private home and need some information about maternity leave. Details inside. I will be having a baby in the fall. I have worked in this for this great family since fall 2007. My paycheck comes from a company but the family of my client is considered my Supervisor. When I called the company to find out what the policy on maternity leave is they said to check with my supervisor. In the past with my supervisor I have scheduled regular sick or vacation days ahead of time, but they waited til the last minute to schedule backup. The supervisor is aware of the due date and has been for a long time now. I have verbally agreed that I would stay working for them as long as I could up to the very last minute if possible. I will return after maternity leave, but I might choose to extend it. My main concern is what if I decide a few days before birth that I am unable to work. I’m mainly worried that there will be no back up for me and might have to work. How do I go about discussing this further with the super visor? Do I need to get it all in writing? How do I find out how long of maternity leave I am entitled to here in Texas? Is there anything else I need to be concerned with? What about FMLA? Any other information that I might need to know?

Savings plan for primary school?

lmY2K — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:36:47 -0800

My child will be switching to a very expensive private elementary school. I have already prepaid the tuition for next year, but what is my best strategy to pay for the following years? Specifically, what is the best way to invest about $2K/month so that I can withdraw the needed lump sum once a year? 529 plans are for college expenses only, and Coverdell education-savings account maxes out at $2k/year.

Financial-aid-filter: Is saving money for suckers?

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:32:54 -0800

I worked hard when I was single and saved a bunch of money. Now I'm married with kids, not able to save much, and I want to send my child to private school. Private school says OK, but no tuition assistance for you. My friends have no savings, but otherwise similar situation, and were granted a huge tuition break. What gives? More practically, how can I convince the school to provide financial assistance, this year or next? Buy a Porsche then tell them I have no savings? :-) Pay down my mortgage? Transfer my savings to a 529 plan in the child's name?

How can I get calls, yet protect my privacy for free?

abkadefgee — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:49:01 -0800

What free services are available that provide a real, anonymous US phone number for forwarding to a cell phone? I am in need of a service that can provide a free, disposable phone number for posting on flyers, so I can be reached on my cell.

Are there any free, anonymous phone forwarding services that provide a real US number besides numbr.com, jangl.com, freedigits.com, or call-safe.com? Numbr isn't giving new numbers, jangl requires the caller to sign up to get the number, freedigits.com seems to only forward to IP phones, and call-safe appears to give out non-US numbers. I already have a GrandCentral account, but need a separate, anonymous number and PrivatePhone discontinued service.

I'm having trouble finding any other alternatives that don't require me to sign up and pay for some extra service when all I want is a temporary number for two weeks.

"Views" count on Flickr rising despite that all photos have been set to private

electric water kettle — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:37:52 -0800

Flickr newbie question: All of my photos are private. Why does the number of "views" at http://www.flickr.com/photos/[my Flickr username]/ keep going up despite that at http://www.flickr.com/photos/[my Flickr username]/popular-views/ it says nobody has viewed my photos? I registered for Flickr a week or so ago and want to use it purely for storage and backup. I set almost all of my photos to private upon uploading them; I missed a few, which I set to private several minutes later. I'm sure I haven't missed any now, as I've logged out to check. I've experimented to see if looking at photos myself raises the view count, and it doesn't seem to. None of my photos, as far as I can tell, have any views, and neither do the two sets between which all of them are divided: it's just the little gray number to the right of where it says "Your photos." That's at 10 now, up from 9, up from 6, up from 3. Any ideas what's happening?