• TrickDacy@lemmy.world
    11 hours

    I’m careful to never even mention the state I live in, but here OP is freely posting their city and 9 digit zip code. As the other user said, you’ve told people what block you live on. 😬

  • DahGangalang@infosec.pub
    17 hours

    Heads up, the 9 digit zip code (xxxxx-xxxx) alone is as valid of a mailing address as any “full” address.

    That is to say, by leaving the full zip, you’ve low key exposed the actual address, which can be found with a quick google search.

    • VicksVaporBBQrub@sh.itjust.works
      5 hours

      I went down a brief rabbit hole on the zip+4 and the IMb (intelligent mailer barcode). The +4 was originally a local division inside a single zipcode, like a neighborhood or mail route. +4 and the barcode was then called POSTNET – decommissioned and now upgraded barcode encoding to IMb, which can contain like 2000 bits of data. The zip +4 technically now has a length of 11 digits, and is inside a IMb barcode.

      Conclusion, barcodes have sensitive data too. ~✍️

      edit add: i wanted to see if my phone’s barcode app could scan too see if OP’s post office really calls him Mr. Off, but it cant natively read mailer codes and I fell asleep and the rabbit hole ended.

    • stankmut@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15 hours

      Surely the last 4 digits don’t point to an exact house. I’m fairly certain my zip code has more than 9999 houses. It does seem like it would get you pretty close though.

      • Arrkk@lemmy.world
        12 hours

        Zip+four is only down the the block level, you need 2 more digits (zip+6) to uniquely identify every possible address in the US. That said, a 9 digit barcode is way too close to a full address for most people to be comfortable with sharing online.

      • DahGangalang@infosec.pub
        10 hours

        I suppose I grew up semirural, so growing up, my zip plus 4 identified my single house. Good to know that’s not thexactly the case all the time. Still, pretty identifying.

    • stupidcasey@lemmy.world
      16 hours

      Sure but why do you care? It’s not like they did anything it was the guy who mailed this to them and all they did was a mildly funny prank.

      • MrKoyun@lemmy.world
        15 hours

        Because leaving your adress on the Internet, even if only vaguely precise is not very smart and safe so its good to warn people?

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17 hours

    I routinely get texts to “Henry”, which is not my name. I must have done the same–entered a fake name. The bastards are persistent, I keep blocking the number, and they keep texting with a different number. I don’t understand the reasoning, if I go so far as to block your number, why do you think continuing to harass me is going to change my mind?

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
      11 hours

      Same here, but the name is “Sierra”. I’ve had the same phone number for 25 years

    • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
      13 hours

      I still get a load of spammy texts directed to the prior user of my #, and pretty clearly they’re almost all produced by simple automation. But even with live callers, I believe many companies have automated a lot of that process as well. So as with email spam (etc), it might take surprisingly little effort to produce the call. So it can still be worth it for them, statistically, to harass you.

    • Rebels_Droppin@lemmy.world
      16 hours

      Could be that by blocking you let them know it’s an active number, and anything with a pulse on the other side of the phone is a potential lick

      • Natanael@slrpnk.netEnglish
        16 hours

        It shouldn’t generally be obvious they are blocked. Especially for texts (that aren’t RCS) they should learn nothing