Well my crazy cousin managed to actually find something interesting when she posted about Spokeo.com. It's apparently a social site that takes information about you from several different public sites and compiles it. It was a little bit off for me; it had my old location (my parents' house), said I was late 20s (mid-20s, darn it!), and that I was, among other things, a home owner, had a clerical job, and was a Capricorn (Sagittarius, for the record). But it was still really creepy how it knew my parents, their phone number, my e-mail, etc. Apparently you can even get pictures if you pay.
On the plus side it is relatively easy to take yourself off (it's under the privacy options at the bottom). Still it was fun to track down some of my friends. Are you on there?
Here's some lolwiki info on it:
Quote:
Privacy and safety concerns
Spokeo's search technology has won rave reviews - but not without controversy. In Spring 2010, Spokeo released version 4 of its website. Shortly thereafter, CBS47.tv, which serves the Fresno, California, viewing area, aired a short piece on Spokeo, outlining local law enforcement agencies' concerns that the site would enable cyberstalking. They reported that credit information was being included in some online profiles and that Spokeo had recently removed a feature that provided photos of private residences. Search results on Spokeo offer to provide a "Credit Estimate" and "Wealth Level" information, as well as information about a target's mortgage value, estimated income, and investments. In an interview with Michaigan-based WILX-TV Spokeo's founder, Harrison Tang, said that credit information is not actually available through Spokeo.
In March 2010, warning messages began circulating to warn recipients that their personal information was viewable through Spokeo.
On Facebook in particular, several users complained on the "Spokeo" message board that the website was a violation of their privacy, and new groups were started to demand an end to the service. Several of these users claimed that information set to private on facebook and other social networking accounts was still appearing on Spokeo's website. Several also noted that pictures of their children were being shown on the site, and there were isolated claims of bullying or threats based on the information revealed in Spokeo searches. Because of the commercial use of their photographs, many members suggested that Spokeo had also violated their copyrights. As of April 15, 2010, the largest protest group, "No more Spokeo", had more members than all pro-Spokeo groups combined. Twitter users have also been urged to remove their information from Spokeo.
Removal of personal information
The Spokeo website contains an opt-out form (accessible from the "Privacy" link on the bottom of every page) that allows users to prevent specific Spokeo pages from displaying search results for their names, phone numbers, or email addresses. The removal of email address search results was implemented by Spokeo on April 19, 2010, and the removal process is the same as that for name and phone listings, although some Gmail users initially complained that the system malfunctioned when they entered their addresses. While it is possible to block your listings from being displayed on Spokeo, they will not be removed from the original sources. Early users initially reported that the feature did not work, including snopes.com who found "the procedure to be highly questionable" and noted that "our efforts have never resulted in a successfully blocked record". Because the opt-out form requires users to provide a working e-mail address, this led to speculation that "one of Spokeo's core businesses is actually the collecting of e-mail addresses." Other users have found it easy to deactivate results pages for their names. Since mid-April, Spokeo has fixed most of the bugs, making opt-out a one-step process. (Note: AOL users may not receive a confirmation email from Spokeo to complete this process. If this happens, try an alternate email address such as Hotmail.)
Spokeo's search technology has won rave reviews - but not without controversy. In Spring 2010, Spokeo released version 4 of its website. Shortly thereafter, CBS47.tv, which serves the Fresno, California, viewing area, aired a short piece on Spokeo, outlining local law enforcement agencies' concerns that the site would enable cyberstalking. They reported that credit information was being included in some online profiles and that Spokeo had recently removed a feature that provided photos of private residences. Search results on Spokeo offer to provide a "Credit Estimate" and "Wealth Level" information, as well as information about a target's mortgage value, estimated income, and investments. In an interview with Michaigan-based WILX-TV Spokeo's founder, Harrison Tang, said that credit information is not actually available through Spokeo.
In March 2010, warning messages began circulating to warn recipients that their personal information was viewable through Spokeo.
On Facebook in particular, several users complained on the "Spokeo" message board that the website was a violation of their privacy, and new groups were started to demand an end to the service. Several of these users claimed that information set to private on facebook and other social networking accounts was still appearing on Spokeo's website. Several also noted that pictures of their children were being shown on the site, and there were isolated claims of bullying or threats based on the information revealed in Spokeo searches. Because of the commercial use of their photographs, many members suggested that Spokeo had also violated their copyrights. As of April 15, 2010, the largest protest group, "No more Spokeo", had more members than all pro-Spokeo groups combined. Twitter users have also been urged to remove their information from Spokeo.
Removal of personal information
The Spokeo website contains an opt-out form (accessible from the "Privacy" link on the bottom of every page) that allows users to prevent specific Spokeo pages from displaying search results for their names, phone numbers, or email addresses. The removal of email address search results was implemented by Spokeo on April 19, 2010, and the removal process is the same as that for name and phone listings, although some Gmail users initially complained that the system malfunctioned when they entered their addresses. While it is possible to block your listings from being displayed on Spokeo, they will not be removed from the original sources. Early users initially reported that the feature did not work, including snopes.com who found "the procedure to be highly questionable" and noted that "our efforts have never resulted in a successfully blocked record". Because the opt-out form requires users to provide a working e-mail address, this led to speculation that "one of Spokeo's core businesses is actually the collecting of e-mail addresses." Other users have found it easy to deactivate results pages for their names. Since mid-April, Spokeo has fixed most of the bugs, making opt-out a one-step process. (Note: AOL users may not receive a confirmation email from Spokeo to complete this process. If this happens, try an alternate email address such as Hotmail.)
