Em Jan 10, 2023

Tiny Privacy Tip 🔒:

Do not give your name to your devices.

Give them their own unique unrelated name. Like Steve or Martha or CyberApple or MyMagicTinyPocketComputer ✨

Giving it your own name isn’t really helpful in any way to you, and through Bluetooth or WiFi scanning can make your name known to strangers in the vicinity you might not want to share your name with.

Giving weird unrelated names to your phones, computers, WiFi network, etc, is not only safer, it is also much cuter  ​

#TinyPrivacyTip

Show threadMolly B
@Em0nM4stodon A car salesman tried to “teach” me to pair my phone with my car. I had already paired it, but my phone was named “Louise,” so he thought it was picking up someone else’s Bluetooth signal. 😄
Jan 10, 2023 at 6:42pmMetatext
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKJan 10, 2023
@mjibrower @Em0nM4stodon I bought a used car in 2020 and it still had the whole families names of the former owner in the Bluetooth paired devices lists (and despite GDPR you often get a load of info about the previous owner including their home addresses, due to the way the V5C (title) form works in this country, especially if the salesman is older and doesn't want to do the extra online admin work (for the GDPR compliant method, which doesn't always work smoothly anyway)
Show threadScriptFanix💍Aug 31, 2025
@vfrmedia
My operator lends you a phone for a limited time if yours broken. Long story short, the phone they handed me over was a stalker's dream thing! Had contacts, messages, Facebook...
@mjibrower @Em0nM4stodon
Show threadxoJan 10, 2023
@mjibrower @Em0nM4stodon
Why don’t we all call every device ‘Louise’. Billions of us.