Discussion: name withheld

I was recently browsing through the results of a rogain held in our state to see how some friends and acquaintances had done. There were several results where "name withheld" appeared, and curiously within a team where some team members were identified. I'm not prying or judging but I'm wondering if someone can enlighten me as to why?

Team dissension?

Name withheld appeared in both well performed and not so well performed teams (as far as I could tell).

I have had people request their names be altered in results listed on webpages due to the professions they work in - like needing to have an unlisted telephone number.

Hmmm ... so some people in certain professions would find it somehow embarrassing for people to find that they participate in rogaines??? Seems odd, but I'm guessing there's some angle I'm not understanding.

Interesting. I wonder how sponsors would feel about that. In most of the sports I compete in, part of the waiver (yes, I actually read those things) says that I allow the race organization and sponsors to use my name and image without compensation in conjunction with any promotion and/or reporting of the event. That's how I ended up on the poster for the Show Me State Shape Up Challenge, which was basically a weight loss program culminating in participation in the Missouri State Games. Funny thing was, I'm sure they had no idea that I was once 60 pounds heavier!

Maybe they were using their sick days and didn't want their boss to find out.

I think they were in the witness protection program.

There are people that because of personal circumstances want to minimize their exposure on the web. For example an women with an ex or an unfriendly stalker. I wouldn't be surprised if AP didn't have some aliases being used.

If you google a person who has competed in an event where the results are posted on the web, their name will invariably come up. I have had people in these circumstances ask me to withhold their names in events I have produced.

The amazing thing to me is that there are people who successfully keep their name off of the web. It seems like it would be very tough to do if you regularly participate in activities with online results. Once it's up there it doesn't really ever go away.

On the other side of the coin, having the first 150 hits on your name on Google linking to orienteering results can come in useful if, for example, a certain well-known (at least to Australians) media identity (or his researcher) is using it to try to find dirt on your non-orienteering activities...

I've always thought that if you're concerned about hits coming up on Google, a deliberate mis-spelling is an elegant solution.

As for the legal situation in Australia, there are no legal barriers to publishing results - the Privacy Act does not apply to organisations with a turnover of less than $2M (except with respect to things like medical records), and in any case there is a clause which says something to the effect that it doesn't apply to material that an individual could have reasonably anticipated would be published. Obviously different countries will have different laws here. (As an aside, there is also nothing in the Privacy Act or anywhere else which requires a parent's permission to publish a photo of a child taken in a public place, any more than there is any requirement to get an adult's permission to publish a photo of themselves taken in a public place - the paparazzi would be out of business if it were otherwise....).

Having a reasonably common name keeps you down the list - when I type my name into google without any other key words I make the bottom of the first page for being involved in mapping Boyagarring in 1983! Add Orienteering or Rogaining and I am in every link

Speaking of privacy, I liked the way Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor today defused several touchy issues....

.....During his second chance to question Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Sen. Orrin Hatch prompted her Wednesday to outline how she believes the "right to privacy" emerged to allow abortion....But Sotomayor would not say, despite two days of trying by many senators, what she personally believes about abortion or previous rulings on it and the right to privacy....

Epic segue there, Clark. :)

Maybe we should have all our results published using our AP names, trouble is I use it everywhere.

I was once going to write a condescending comment on some guys Vimeo page. The page featured a video of a group of guys shooting the crap out of fridges and washing machines etc with seriously big automatic weapons. I'd typed in a sarcastic "I know where to come to if I'm ever attacked by whitegoods" in the comments page and was about to hit "post" but thought it over.

I decided that perhaps they might have some pals in OZ or even take a holiday here and that I'd be very findable to anyone with half a brain using a google search and very simple detective work. Even though I didn't credit them with much intelligence I still deleted it as they were crazy as hell and obviously had a passion for shooting things. Yes I'm a coward.

maybe they're on compo

You could always hide in a fridge.

That would make it tough to keep the G-value down.

It's ok leepback, they don't sound the type to detect sarcasm and would have taken it as an honour that there was someone out there who would come straight to them to be rescued in an attacking whiteware crisis

Off topic.....but here's the link to those guy's shooting up objects. Charlton Heston would definately approve if he were still alive.

http://vimeo.com/2060735

It's titled "Shooters Party" and I reckon they have some brethren in the same named political party over here.

Watch thru until at least "Rifles and Such".

Don't anybody mention my name!!!!