I'd feel the same way Chloe. It never pays to underestimate how people are able to mis-use information. I am incredibly paranoid. I prefer to keep my real name right out of the cyber world. Every account I have I list my "online name" instead of my real name. I can't believe that people would also put their real name on FaceBook accounts for example.
I don't put my real name on competitions I enter either.... and you'd be surprised how many companies on sell your details! It's never silly to try to protect your privacy... too many people just haven't a clue what risks they put themselves to. My DH (who downloads music from a file sharing site) has come across many files from people's own person hard-drives that contain financial data, taxation details including tax file numbers, personal resumes... the lot! occasionally he'll ring the person up and tell them to use privacy settings but mostly they don't seem to understand the magnitude of the situation. DH is a bank manager and usually introduces himself as such just to reinforce how dangerous it is (he is familiar with fraud)... but, no, still blase How trusting we all are.... I mean, who would stand on the sidewalk and hand out their name, phone number and street address to strangers??? It's exactly the same thing!