# Can the government or banks(as employers) find my identity through forums? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-government-or-banks-as-employers-find-my-identity-through-forums/547623 "2010-07-22T17:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-government-or-banks-as-employers-find-my-identity-through-forums/547623/21 "2010-07-26T23:22:01Z")
There was an interesting article in the NYT on a similar topic the other day. [The Web Means the End of Forgetting](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-t2.html?ref=technology) It is mostly concerned with public postings on things like Facebook and such, not with anonymous posting. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-government-or-banks-as-employers-find-my-identity-through-forums/547623/22 "2010-07-26T23:27:30Z")
Well, one time on /b/… a guy posed a challenge to discover his identity, providing his initials, the fact he had a daughter, and that he was from northern europe. … 44 minutes later I called him. _shrug_ Depends on how motivated people are. ---
**Author:** ![recaptcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@recaptcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/recaptcha)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-government-or-banks-as-employers-find-my-identity-through-forums/547623/23 "2010-07-31T00:43:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Nobody cares about what random assholes say on random message boards, and I guarantee that nobody in HR gets paid to track down the identity of every random asshole on the internet just so they can blacklist the assholes. Do you have any idea how many random assholes there are on the internet? > [@](#): > > Depends on how motivated people are. What about someone who is seeking the same jobs and wants to eliminate every potential competitor as he/she can? They have the motivation, and if they get others’ identities, they might anonymously contact HR departments to let the HR staff blacklist people. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-government-or-banks-as-employers-find-my-identity-through-forums/547623/24 "2010-07-31T02:05:08Z")
[quote=“recaptcha, post:23, topic:547623”] > [@](#): > > What about someone who is seeking the same jobs and wants to eliminate every potential competitor as he/she can? They have the motivation, and if they get others’ identities, they might anonymously contact HR departments to let the HR staff blacklist people. And, what if someone were truly magic and had the ability to devine your identity and location simply by staring at your anonymous posting on a message board. Where will it end. You’re just stressing about something that is a non-issue. Chill out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-government-or-banks-as-employers-find-my-identity-through-forums/547623.md?page=1)