Make sure you read that Privacy Policy.

[rivetspoon.livejournal.com]

Or should we say "Lack of" Privacy Policy?

Think your data isn't online? Think your privacy is secure? Take a minute to visit Spokeo and you'll change your mind.

The popular information-gathering website offers a multitude of options for finding information about anyone. It purports to know your income, religion, spouse's name, credit status and the number of people in your household. It even offers a satellite shot of your house, complete with an estimated value.

Spokeo’s not alone in the information-mining business -- competitor Intelius, for instance, offers similar services -- and for as little as $2.95 a month for a year’s membership, you can run a detailed background check that pulls information from local, state and federal government databases and hundreds of social-networking sites.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/19/spokeo-cyber-security-warn-threat-privacy/#ixzz1CULVe8ew

My friend showed me the website and helped me get my information blocked. Intelius isn't so easy, though; they require you to fax them proof it's you, and every time your info changes it'll come back onto the website and you have to reprove it's you asking for it to be taken off again.

Why?

[R]evealing some personal information is okay because it means there is a way to link an online persona with an actual individual. Angry posters at Websites can be traceable and not engage in anonymous name-calling, in other words.

Comments

[agentbristow86.livejournal.com]

[R]evealing some personal information is okay because it means there is a way to link an online persona with an actual individual. Angry posters at Websites can be traceable and not engage in anonymous name-calling, in other words.

Oh, so glad we're setting up a Stalkers-R-Us to ensure that no one ever calls someone else a name... ever again...

#NewTone

But in all seriousness, this is damn scary.

[archerstar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a friend of mine showed me Spokeo a few days ago. It seriously was one of the most disturbing things I'd ever seen.

I don't understand why Intelius need proof that it's you. That's a little disturbing to me. I'm asking you to take it down, I don't want to send you even more information. They say they only use the info to process your removal application, but this is a site that takes your information and spreads it all over the internet in an easy searchable form. I don't trust them. They even have a SSN search! How is that safe/legal?!

[rivetspoon.livejournal.com]

What's that? You saying we need Internet regulation? I thought all you red neck right wing crazy types wanted Net Neutrality off the table? THIS IS THE KIND OF STUFF WE TOTALLY WANT TO PROTECT YOU FROM. WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND! I'm the messiah for crying out loud. :( Why don't you trust my intentions? It won't be like Egypt and Iran!

[archerstar.livejournal.com]

LOL YES.

Keeping sites that provide useful mechanisms to the public open is exactly the same thing as keeping sites open that essentially sell my private information for money. I keep coming back to that SSN thing. The government is so concerned with identity theft but here's a site that lets you SEARCH BY A NUMBER NO ONE ELSE SHOULD EVER KNOW.

Blah blah, it's all from public record. Intelius won't let you look at anything until you pay a yearly fee. I consider that selling my information. If it was truly "public", then I should be able to see it without having to pay anything.

Although, as an aside, net neutrality is actually a slightly different concept than this. NN is more geared towards providers cutting off certain websites which they feel are threatening, or charging extra for access to "high volume" sites, or even purposefully killing download speeds from certain websites than dealing with "public" information gathering sites.

[hannahsarah.livejournal.com]

LOL! My info there is a good 4 years out of date. :-P

I move around a lot.

[agentbristow86.livejournal.com]

I'm rather scared to search myself. *bites lip*

[rivetspoon.livejournal.com]

They had my info, my folks' office and rental property... Hell they even know about a husband I haven't even met yet! wait... (Note: Not everything's up to date nor accurate, but that doesn't mean future employers would know that. My friend's entry labeled her as 80% likely to hook up with a woman. I don't think her Marine husband's COs would like to find something like that online.)

My dad's been obsessed with thinking that staying off of Facebook and the like would protect him but uhh... FB wouldn't know about rental properties. :|

[hannahsarah.livejournal.com]

It's important to check.

As long as my info is out of date, I'm happy. If anyone wanted to get up to shenanigans, they'd have a heck of a time tracking me down! Sometimes a little false information is good insurance. ;-)

[shaolin.livejournal.com]

It only knew that I maintain two blogs. Whoop-di-doo.

[shaolin.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of surprised that it took Fox so long to report on Spokeo. AFAIK, it's been around for months, if not at least a year. I heard about it back in the spring, I think. I remember people freaking out about it back then, but then they quickly realized that there are a couple of sites that have the same function, so it's sort of difficult to get all of your information removed. :|

[eajou.livejournal.com]

None of the information that I've looked up regarding my family, friends or myself is up to do. For example, I've moved out of my parents house a year ago to live full time by my school (and it was a permanent change in address) yet I am still listed as living with them. My brother isn't listed at all (he is 22) and my friend, who is an army wife and living on base, is also still listed as living at her old home where she moved from two years ago. My cousin, who still lives at home, is said to be living at an apartment (HAHAHAHA, that chauvinistic person will never leave as long as Mommy does everything for him - despite the fact that he is in his 30s) that values a certain amount and that he makes a certain amount, which I know is untrue.

I'll check it out more, I'm tempted to pay just to see what they have about me exactly.

[eajou.livejournal.com]

date*

Excuse the grammar - just woke up.

[eajou.livejournal.com]

LOL! I wouldn't be too worried at all. It has my friend, who is known throughout as a relationship avoiding - never been on a date type, listed as MARRIED. I almost spit out my coffee. And also, she hasn't lived in the USA for a year, so that information is way off too.

Not scared of this site, at all.

[rivetspoon.livejournal.com]

It might not be accurate for you, but some of my information was pretty fucking accurate. Intelius offers a search engine for SSNs, which shouldn't exactly smell right to you.

[eajou.livejournal.com]

Did I say it smelled right? No, I said I found the inaccuracies that I saw in my information funny. Way to put words in a person's mouth.

[rivetspoon.livejournal.com]

Pardon me; it seemed you were taking this whole idea rather lightly, considering it isn't just information dredged up from Facebook but actual government records.

[eajou.livejournal.com]

Nah, I'm not happy about the concept in the least to be honest. It is a huge invasion of privacy and there is one person I know who does have the correct information on there (and ironically she is the one who goes out of her way to hide her identity on the internet, while I really don't bother).

Like others were saying, sites like this are pretty common now. Scary, but common. Not comforting at all really and if it had my right information I would be freaking out too. As it is, the mistakes were so bad that I had to try to find humor in the situation.

[rivetspoon.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. Yes, my dad is also one of those that "tries" to hide (he fails at trying, but he doesn't seem to realize that) and his info was pretty extensive, including rental properties we have and their estimated value and how long we've lived in this house. Why does a phone book need to have that information? What even.

I just can't help but think these sites are being allowed as a scapegoat for Internet regulation. =_=

[brianna-aisling.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm my own mother according to that site, and she's really my sister. :P My brother doesn't exist at all. Oh, and there's two of me. Apparently at some point in the past, I split off from myself and have continued living two consecutive lives. My brother still doesn't exist. Neither of those addresses are current.

Like rivetspoon I, too, have a husband I don't know about and enjoy cooking. My boyfriend will not be happy about the first, but will love the second.

I just searched my brother. He doesn't exist at all according to this site. No wonder. :(


Seriously, though, Spokeo is not a new concept. There are multiple sites that do this kind of thing. It's annoying, but if you want to really keep your information off the internet, you need to just get off the internet. :/

[lizbeth-mairead.livejournal.com]

Hmm... perhaps I'm related to Jason Bourne?

I searched myself and it replied, "We could not locate '[INSERT NAME], [INSERT CITY, STATE]'. Are you sure you spelled the person's name correctly?"

I'm good with that.

That's creepy as hell. I already don't prefer to use Google because I feel like someone's leering over my shoulder. To know that Mr. Frisky down the street could be looking me up is not any more reassuring.