KeithS
09-23-2010, 10:26 PM
I use linkedin for professional connections, keeping track of colleagues, former colleagues, the regular stuff they designed the tool for. So one day last week one of the Linkedin "People you may know" suggestions was a software engineer named Keith Arbuckle, from Melbourne FL. It took a little bit but it hit me it's KeithA from right here on this forum. It would not be unusual for me to have a connection to a software engineer, or someone in FL (I'm in MN) I have been selling in the enterprise telephony business for the last 20 years.
I always thought that those suggestions came from connections of connections. Keith and I have exchanged emails before, I vacationed in Vero Beach just down the road from Melbourne and he responded to a query and I think I sent him a thank you email instead of a PM. I have an entry with his name and personal (yahoo) email address in my contact list. I am reasonably saavy when it comes to the internet so I don't allow this or any other application to "mine" my contacts or email. So my question is do they do it anyway? The mining that is, and I think they do. There have been some flaps over the security of Facebook, I see some things there that could really jeopardize personal security.
On another note, a friend suggested I try a (free) application called Xobni, it is really cool. It mines your inbox and then does a consolidated presentation of relevant information from your email. You just hover over an email entry and it shows all of the correspondence, files exchanged and much more. I find it very useful, but my IT guy at work cautioned that if it can do the task it is designed for are they looking at my email too?
Lots of smart folks here, just thought someone may validate my theory.
Keith
I always thought that those suggestions came from connections of connections. Keith and I have exchanged emails before, I vacationed in Vero Beach just down the road from Melbourne and he responded to a query and I think I sent him a thank you email instead of a PM. I have an entry with his name and personal (yahoo) email address in my contact list. I am reasonably saavy when it comes to the internet so I don't allow this or any other application to "mine" my contacts or email. So my question is do they do it anyway? The mining that is, and I think they do. There have been some flaps over the security of Facebook, I see some things there that could really jeopardize personal security.
On another note, a friend suggested I try a (free) application called Xobni, it is really cool. It mines your inbox and then does a consolidated presentation of relevant information from your email. You just hover over an email entry and it shows all of the correspondence, files exchanged and much more. I find it very useful, but my IT guy at work cautioned that if it can do the task it is designed for are they looking at my email too?
Lots of smart folks here, just thought someone may validate my theory.
Keith