wit
02-02-2009, 02:20 PM
Post your creepy tips for internet stalking here, as well as defence. I'm quite paranoid when it comes to my own personal information online, and as a troll (other communities I do not troll you you beautiful zokleteers) I'm pretty effective at hunting peoples private details from tiny little scraps of their internet personas, and hunting real life people down to sites they shouldnt be on. :D I've wanted to write a file on this for a long time and I'm sure you chaps and chapettes have all done it before, whether it be someone who pissed you off on a board or the boyfriend you think is still talking to his ex on myspace.
I'll start off with a recent one I discovered.
Jumping from a board or IRC to a last.fm account
Procedure
1a. Most forums have threads in their General Chat along the lines of "Song you are now playing". Hopefully the target has recently posted in this.
1b. The target has just mentioned on IRC what he/she is currently listening to.
2. Search Last.fm for the song and band and see who is currently or has recently listened to it.
3. Using other puzzle pieces you have of the target such as name, photo, location, age, you can hone in on someone elses last.fm account if they have one (a lot of people do that like to inform everyone of what they are playing).
You really have to check it within a few hours, maybe a day of posting. But if its an obscure song that maybe only a handful of people would actually listen to then there may only be one or two people who have played it.
Possible Information Obtained
1. Alternative User name
2. Age
3. Location
4. Thumbnail photo or avatar.
5. Last.fm scrobble the song you have played and also the time you have played it. Working on the assumption that the target only plays music when they are in their house, at their computer or at least in the same room, and using their location to determine their timezone, it is possible work back through the many pages of song names and times and piece together the times the target is home and online. For example if the target has been playing music for half an hour but then there was a two week gap, this might indicate that he is just back from a holiday.
I'll start off with a recent one I discovered.
Jumping from a board or IRC to a last.fm account
Procedure
1a. Most forums have threads in their General Chat along the lines of "Song you are now playing". Hopefully the target has recently posted in this.
1b. The target has just mentioned on IRC what he/she is currently listening to.
2. Search Last.fm for the song and band and see who is currently or has recently listened to it.
3. Using other puzzle pieces you have of the target such as name, photo, location, age, you can hone in on someone elses last.fm account if they have one (a lot of people do that like to inform everyone of what they are playing).
You really have to check it within a few hours, maybe a day of posting. But if its an obscure song that maybe only a handful of people would actually listen to then there may only be one or two people who have played it.
Possible Information Obtained
1. Alternative User name
2. Age
3. Location
4. Thumbnail photo or avatar.
5. Last.fm scrobble the song you have played and also the time you have played it. Working on the assumption that the target only plays music when they are in their house, at their computer or at least in the same room, and using their location to determine their timezone, it is possible work back through the many pages of song names and times and piece together the times the target is home and online. For example if the target has been playing music for half an hour but then there was a two week gap, this might indicate that he is just back from a holiday.