[Lord Nikon]

Part of what I do involves information gathering and collating, so I have more insight on how to get the information. A lot of people aren't careful about the information they impart on the internet. This can make tasks such as the above easier.

Social networking sites sometimes have the facility to geolocate the posting location, especially when done from iphones or similar devices with onboard gps. Google Buzz is another such facility. Footprints are found easily with modern search techniques and common sense follows. For example - if a tweet is posted from a location at 4am, odds are it is a home location, especially if other tweets have been made from the same location at similar times over several days (Especially if the location is not in a business area) Failing which if a number and address shows up for someone over 25 with the correct initial near to that location, then odds are it may be the individual, especially with unusual surnames where there are no other instances found.

Suggestions - if you tweet, don't let it geolocate you, if you have a landline, go ex directory. If you buy domains for commercial use, use a mailing address, for personal use - opt out of the whois. etc etc. And above all be careful about what personal information you share in a public forum. Use pseudonyms in public, don't give out your surname if you can avoid doing so. Especially on unusual surnames.