Thank you for this, I *just* moved into my first house like last month and I didn't know about this. I have yet to get stuff in the mail, but I'll stay vigilant.
One of the joys of homeownership is unsolicted mail from fly-by-night operations like US Home Guard Warranty Division and Caliber Home Loans, Inc. offering home warranties and mortage refinancing. They get your contact details from public records (since homeownership is a matter of public record in the US with zero privacy protection) and they word their pitches with veiled threats like "your home warranty may already have expired". In the case of Caliber Home Loans, they advertise a new mortgage payment that's hundreds of dollars less than your current payment because it doesn't account for homeowners' insurance premiums or property taxes. Real fuckin' classy.
If you get mail from these assholes or from similar operations, shred it post haste.
Thank you for this, I *just* moved into my first house like last month and I didn't know about this. I have yet to get stuff in the mail, but I'll stay vigilant.
Same goes for PGP public keys paired with your real mail address, as I learned the other day. Submitted mine to pgp.mit.edu before checking their FAQ...
Now I am waiting for the Pfizer ads to flood in:/
I can create automatic filters for unwanted email, but the only solution for unwanted snail mail is still to manually sort incoming mail and shred the spam, because even though the US Constitution explicitly specifies that mail is Uncle Sam's responsibility, the US Postal Service is expected to finance itself and thus won't turn away their biggest customers: advertisers.
I can create automatic filters for unwanted email
Sure, also it is usually way easier to get a new mail than home address...
Still sucks, either way!
the US Postal Service is expected to finance itself and thus won't turn away their biggest customers: advertisers.
Yeah, the perks of (halfass) privatizing essential/basic supply.
Privatization always detriments the common population, can’t think of a single instance where it has benefit. Remember the days when there were phone books? If you knew someone’s name you could give them a call or knock on their door. The fact that seems so foreign now and so rife for exploit saddens me.
Remember the days when there were phone books?
Remember these telemarketing auto-dialer machines?;D
Unlisting yourself from the phone book was (and is) a common thing, atleast where I am from. In fact you have to explicitly consent to the publishing of your personal data, when you register here.
And frankly, there are many people, knowing my name, that I don't want calls, much less unexpected visits from. But I guess my landlord doesn't call me The Hermit for no reason:D
The fact that seems so foreign now and so rife for exploit saddens me.
I think there's just been an increase in targets and complexity of exploits. And in awareness and fear of them in this zeitgeist, dunno...If you go further back in time, getting exploited probably was more likely to be life-threatening, and feared?