I’ve been wondering how people manage to find out someone’s email address just from their username.

Like, how does it actually work? Do they use certain tools, search through old data breaches, or just connect information from different websites?

I’m also curious about how you can prevent this from happening. For example, if you use the same username on multiple platforms, does that make it easier for someone to find your email? And are there any ways to check if your email is exposed somewhere online?

I’m not trying to find anyone’s personal information or anything like that. I just want to understand how people do it and what you can do to protect your own privacy.

Would be interesting to hear from people who know a bit about OSINT or online privacy. What are the main things to watch out for?

Literally tried looking around to figure out how I can opt out of it but there is no button and just only 'accept all cookies.' I just want to read professor reviews without giving my data for targeted advertising, is this allowed 😭

The current procedure for signing up on twitter/X app is to give the biometric data on the phone, by taking a selfie.

They claim it's not stored on the X servers. Does anyone know what happens with the selfie, and if X actually stores it?

If they don't store it, how do they handle the image: how does it NOT get stored in their servers?

I joined a new medical practice as a patient. There was no AI form to give or deny consent. Under their consent forms pages, to cover my bases even though there was no mention of AI use, I wrote "I DO NOT CONSENT TO AI RECORDING" and signed and dated.

Imagine my shock when I read my notes, which are extremely long and detail every random word of the appointment, now in my permanent medical file.

At the end of each clinic note, it says this bucket of flaming lies:

"Patient and/or family have been informed of the use of Ambience, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) scribe dictation technology in the documentation of medical records. Patient and/or family was further advised that the AI scribe is not used to make any health care decisions and that AI-scribed notes will be reviewed by the clinician for accuracy. Patient and/or family was able to ask questions and offered the opportunity to opt-out. Patient and/or family voluntarily consents to the use of AI scribe technology for medical documentation and understands that he/she may withdraw this consent at any time."

I WAS NOT INFORMED. I DID NOT CONSENT.

I EXPRESSLY DENIED CONSENT.

AND NOW I HAVE TO BE AFRAID OF GETTING KICKED OUT OF THE MEDICAL PRACTICE, BECAUSE I TOLD THE ADMINISTRATORS THAT THIS IS NOT LEGAL. THEY CAN LEGALLY FIRE ME AS A PATIENT FOR SAYING THEY DID SOMETHING WRONG.

"But there’s a frightening caveat: In order for Muse to accomplish these tasks, it basically wants back door access to your entire life. In addition to storing logins and passwords and linking your bank account information, it wants to see your messages, personal calendar and contacts, requesting more sensitive information than virtually any other AI app, according to ZDNET. "

"Around that same time, Inc. tech columnist Jason Aten said that Muse read private messages between him and his co-worker without permission, even though he remembers explicitly denying it access. When the columnist confronted Muse and asked how it was able to access this correspondence, it said that it didn’t know. To his shock, he discovered that many more messages had been synced to Muse without his knowledge. Even more eerie is the fact that it tried giving him pitch ideas, even though he never asked it to.  "

"Given the fact that Meta makes most of its revenue from ads, it’s also perfectly clear why its overlord Mark Zuckerberg is giving us, the commoners, such a powerful tool for free.  

“The true end users of Facebook are the marketers who want to reach and influence us,” media theorist and CNN columnist Douglas Rushkoff wrote in 2013. “They are Facebook’s paying customers; we are the product. And we are its workers.” Instead of paying firms to conduct research on consumers, by constantly engaging with Meta’s products, we provide it for them, he argued. More than a decade later, this sentiment couldn’t feel more true. "

And i also see my university info etc on Google ai results. What can i do for it? I really need help for this, thank you

I don't buy from Amazon, but I use Libby, the library app, and any free e-book is processed through Amazon unfortunately. I do have an account with Amazon since I used to buy from them.

The other day, I searched for an actor in a movie, and it was through IMDB. I didn't click on anything else, didn't create an account, literally just looked at the actor and left. Two days later, I get an email from IMDB, and I look on the website, and Amazon created an account for me on the day I simply looked at the website. I'm logged into Amazon in the same browser (Firefox w/ Ublock and Ghostery), but I know they can still somehow track me across their own services. But to create an account on my behalf simply for using it in the same way I'd use Google makes is so annoying.

My question is - is there any way to avoid things like this from happening, aside from just not using Amazon even to borrow books from the library? I use an email alias for Amazon, but that's not really the point.

ETA, there is a help page on IMDB from October 6 2026, saying this: IMDb Single Sign-On with Amazon

Updated 6-October-2026

This article explains how IMDb and IMDbPro customers may be signed in with their existing Amazon account on IMDb dot com, to get recommendations tailored to your taste, track titles on your Watchlist, rate what you watch, and also contribute to the world's most popular entertainment database. This experience offers consistency and simplicity across IMDb, IMDbPro and Amazon using your existing Amazon account.

IMDb is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon and was acquired in 1998. 

What's new

If available in your location, Amazon customers will be automatically signed into IMDb dot com with your Amazon account. For more information see our guide.