The Case of the Missing Wine

[garbon]

1) You aren't Seeds so don't start.
2) You have adopted a ridiculous stance.

[The Brain]

1) You aren't Seeds so don't start.
2) You have adopted a ridiculous stance.

That it isn't OK for companies to give out my information to their customers is ridiculous to you?

[garbon]

1) You aren't Seeds so don't start.
2) You have adopted a ridiculous stance.

That it isn't OK for companies to give out my information to their customers is ridiculous to you?

Yes because it seems irrelevant here. Your address, sans name, isn't a secret. It is just a record of where they made the drop.

[The Brain]

1) You aren't Seeds so don't start.
2) You have adopted a ridiculous stance.

That it isn't OK for companies to give out my information to their customers is ridiculous to you?

Yes because it seems irrelevant here. Your address, sans name, isn't a secret. It is just a record of where they made the drop.

Aspie conspiracy. OK I'll try to slowly walk you through it. If the company gives out information that lets one of their customers knock on my door then that is not OK. The information may have been my name and address, or just my name, or just my address (or something completely different that somehow lets the customer find me). Exactly which amount of information that is enough to track me down depends on both my name and my address. I may have a very common name, or a very uncommon or even unique name. I may share an address with lots of people or it's just my house. Obviously I expect that a company doesn't share enough information about me for one of their customers to track me down. That's basic privacy stuff.

[garbon]

1) You aren't Seeds so don't start.
2) You have adopted a ridiculous stance.

That it isn't OK for companies to give out my information to their customers is ridiculous to you?

Yes because it seems irrelevant here. Your address, sans name, isn't a secret. It is just a record of where they made the drop.

Aspie conspiracy. OK I'll try to slowly walk you through it. If the company gives out information that lets one of their customers knock on my door then that is not OK. The information may have been my name and address, or just my name, or just my address (or something completely different that somehow lets the customer find me). Exactly which amount of information that is enough to track me down depends on both my name and my address. I may have a very common name, or a very uncommon or even unique name. I may share an address with lots of people or it's just my house. Obviously I expect that a company doesn't share enough information about me for one of their customers to track me down. That's basic privacy stuff.

Strangely, you keep noting your concerns about your name - while both Marti and I were speaking about address only and how that isn't a problem. Customers should be able to know where their packages were delivered (pretty standard feature on online trackers), so I don't think it is a violation of your privacy if someone knows that their package at XX Swedish Fish Lane. I do agree that it does ruffle me a bit if the company were to say "We delivered your package to XX Swedish Fish Lane to a Mr. Brian Goat." The latter then takes an address and links it to you. Telling a customer where their package was delivered (address only) does not violate your privacy.

[The Brain]

1) You aren't Seeds so don't start.
2) You have adopted a ridiculous stance.

That it isn't OK for companies to give out my information to their customers is ridiculous to you?

Yes because it seems irrelevant here. Your address, sans name, isn't a secret. It is just a record of where they made the drop.

Aspie conspiracy. OK I'll try to slowly walk you through it. If the company gives out information that lets one of their customers knock on my door then that is not OK. The information may have been my name and address, or just my name, or just my address (or something completely different that somehow lets the customer find me). Exactly which amount of information that is enough to track me down depends on both my name and my address. I may have a very common name, or a very uncommon or even unique name. I may share an address with lots of people or it's just my house. Obviously I expect that a company doesn't share enough information about me for one of their customers to track me down. That's basic privacy stuff.

Strangely, you keep noting your concerns about your name - while both Marti and I were speaking about address only and how that isn't a problem. Customers should be able to know where their packages were delivered (pretty standard feature on online trackers), so I don't think it is a violation of your privacy if someone knows that their package at XX Swedish Fish Lane. I do agree that it does ruffle me a bit if the company were to say "We delivered your package to XX Swedish Fish Lane to a Mr. Brian Goat." The latter then takes an address and links it to you. Telling a customer where their package was delivered (address only) does not violate your privacy.

Your position is noted and I disagree completely.

[garbon]

Your position is noted and I disagree completely.

One thing I would say though is that is probably not a good idea for a company to divulge said information when they deliverer a package to the wrong address. After all, they essentially setup the whole adversarial confrontation between Otto and the old man as they sent the old man there.

[The Brain]

Your position is noted and I disagree completely.

One thing I would say though is that is probably not a good idea for a company to divulge said information when they deliverer a package to the wrong address. After all, they essentially setup the whole adversarial confrontation between Otto and the old man as they sent the old man there.

Precisely. The guy could have been HA or whatever. I don't want FedEx's drama.

[garbon]

Your position is noted and I disagree completely.

One thing I would say though is that is probably not a good idea for a company to divulge said information when they deliverer a package to the wrong address. After all, they essentially setup the whole adversarial confrontation between Otto and the old man as they sent the old man there.

Precisely. The guy could have been HA or whatever. I don't want FedEx's drama.

Understandable, I just don't think that's a privacy concern. Really more of a it is bad business to send a heated customer to ostensibly a bystander (assuming Otto hadn't drank the wine...).

[dps]

If the company gives out information that lets one of their customers knock on my door then that is not OK.

The guy could, in theory, knock on your door without any information from the company--he could just go around knocking on doors randomly, asking whoever answered if they have his wine.

[Ed Anger]

I would have poured it out in front of the old man. Then gave him 10 seconds to get off my property. That is how you deal with plebs.

Take a sip first. Spit it out in disgust Tell him the wine is impertinent and that while he might well be the kind of imbecile  amused by its rustic pretensions, you most certainly are not. Then the above but aim a kick at his arse on the way out.

[OttoVonBismarck]

There's a few things being missed on the address debate. First, to see tracking information you need the tracking number. This is like a 26 digit number; the old man had it because when you order something in the United States the company that sold it to you frequently forwards the tracking number to you, so that you can track delivery. Presumably when he saw a delivery message for my address he probably called FedEx on the other end (and likely the FedEx people I spoke with never spoke with the same FedEx people he spoke with.)

So it's not exactly public information. Yes, anyone with a tracking number can find out where a package is delivered, however, all that gives them is extremely vague information--address, delivery time, and typically the weight of the package and/or sometimes a message from the driver with brief notes ("Left around back behind the garage") or something of that nature.

It doesn't link to me personally. Secondly, in the United States property ownership is a matter of public record. If you know either my name OR my address, you can go to our county's property assessor website. Using nothing more than First/Last Name OR address, you can get:

1. How much I paid for the house
2. What bank holds the note on my house (if it was mortgaged still)
3. Square footage of the house / acreage of the lot
4. Number of bedrooms
5. The annual property tax assessment
6. Whether or not I am in arrears in my property tax payments
7. Name of owner(s) of the house.
8. A picture of the house

That's all put out there by the government. Your address, your name, and real estate you own are explicitly not-private information in the United States. The search is also on either property owner name OR address, so if one of my neighbors doesn't know my name but knows my address (which is posted out front, so they would know my address) they can find information on the owner.

[The Brain]

 

[alfred russel]

There's a few things being missed on the address debate. First, to see tracking information you need the tracking number. This is like a 26 digit number; the old man had it because when you order something in the United States the company that sold it to you frequently forwards the tracking number to you, so that you can track delivery. Presumably when he saw a delivery message for my address he probably called FedEx on the other end (and likely the FedEx people I spoke with never spoke with the same FedEx people he spoke with.)

So it's not exactly public information. Yes, anyone with a tracking number can find out where a package is delivered, however, all that gives them is extremely vague information--address, delivery time, and typically the weight of the package and/or sometimes a message from the driver with brief notes ("Left around back behind the garage") or something of that nature.

It doesn't link to me personally. Secondly, in the United States property ownership is a matter of public record. If you know either my name OR my address, you can go to our county's property assessor website. Using nothing more than First/Last Name OR address, you can get:

1. How much I paid for the house
2. What bank holds the note on my house (if it was mortgaged still)
3. Square footage of the house / acreage of the lot
4. Number of bedrooms
5. The annual property tax assessment
6. Whether or not I am in arrears in my property tax payments
7. Name of owner(s) of the house.
8. A picture of the house

That's all put out there by the government. Your address, your name, and real estate you own are explicitly not-private information in the United States. The search is also on either property owner name OR address, so if one of my neighbors doesn't know my name but knows my address (which is posted out front, so they would know my address) they can find information on the owner.

It is fun seeing how much coworkers paid for their homes.

[Ed Anger]

And who didn't pay their taxes.