Ideas, Privacy, and Copyright material

This post is Copyright November 17th, 2010.  No seriously it is...  it came from my brain damnitt so hands off!

The question of the day is, when writing a blog how much is too much?  Let me put this into perspective.  My wonderful wife has a Master's degree in information security.  I love her dearly, but I also am more terrified now of information theft than I ever was before marrying her.  The stuff she has taught me and told me about what some of these yahoo hackers can do is just damned creepy. 

Let me also say that my "Day Job" is a professor of Biology at a Community College.  I also am a faculty advisor for students interested in getting into Biology as a major.  This means I get to talk to students a LOT and one thing I have learned is that they have no damn filter on what they tell me at times.  I know wat more about some students than I think they should logically tell me!

So what some folks may say, what's the big deal?  Well if you just look on facebook or any other social sharing site you see the same damn thing.  People putting thier personal lives, thoughts, and ideas out there for everyone to see and comment on.  Didn't we used to be afraid of such things?  Didn't we learn when we were kids to not speak with strangers?  Now we're letting it all hang out and we wonder why we can't get any privacy anymore.

Its sort of like a reverse version of 1984.  Instead of "Big Brother" watching our every move, we're watching each other's every move and ignoring the stuff Big Brother is doing.  *Shrugs*  It also does not help that it seems most folk's attention spans are like mine at times (the aforementioned chipmunk on crack).

So what does this have to do with writing or this blog? 

Well, how much is too much?

I want to share my ideas for stories and such, but how do I know that by putting it out there someone won't ninja it before I copyright the material?  Likewise how much do I honestly tell you about myself before my privacy is compromised?  Not that I expect folks to show up at my office or on my doorstep, but then again stranger things have happened in this world.

So... how does one share ideas without risking them being stolen?  How does one reach out without revealing everything about who they are?  I'd say just use a bit of common sense... but lets face it, common sense is not that common.  *Shrugs*  For this blog though I think I'll just have to fall back on gut instincts and see what happens.  If I see my ideas published or stolen however... well I'll come up with some sort of suitable punishment...  Atomic pink fluffly bunnies of DOOM come to mind.

BACK TO THE LAB!