Privacy Law
Many Usernames Can Be Used to ID and Track Individuals, Researchers Say
If you have the same username on eBay, Google and MySpace, there’s a good chance you may be identifiable.
French researchers at the National Institute for Computing and Automation Research in Grenoble have found that about half of the individuals who use the same moniker on multiple sites like these can be tracked based on their username alone, reports the Telegraph.
The newspaper article links to a Web tool that can be employed to determine how identifiable a particular username is.
Those whose usernames can be tracked across multiple sites are particularly at risk for identity theft, the article notes.
