ACTION ALERT: This is scary stuff.
Sorry if this is old news to you, but this is some alarming stuff and I just found out about it, so I’m telling everyone I know – and that’s you dear reader.
Go to www.spokeo.com and search for your own name, email addresses, and phone numbers. Odds are you’re going to find yourself, and so can anyone else who searches for you.
This is a database that gathers info from all over the net. Social networking sites, places that accept comments, blogs, and so forth. Then all of that information is cross-referenced, correlated, and some demographic information is mixed in as well. In short, everything you have ever said online is out there somewhere and this site has found some of it. Lots of the information is wrong, in my case at least, but enough of it is correct to make me uncomfortable.
Things that are often found on this database:
- partial address (everything but your house number)
- every photo you’ve ever put on an online site
- most of the data from any social networking profile you’ve set up
- an estimate of your net worth
- an estimate of your credit score
- any blogs linking to your blog
- any comments you’ve ever made on blogs
- IP addresses you use to connect to the internet
- previous addresses
- parents’ names (if you’ve lived at their address)
- your education level
- value of your home
- all sorts of demographics about your neighborhood
- your education
And that’s all for free. Then, for just a few bucks a month, they can find out all sorts of other stuff, and folks, it’s NOT expensive.
Once you’re done indulging the creepy side of yourself and looking up everyone you know, you need to remove yourself from this database. To do so, scroll down to the bottom of the page after you find yourself and click on the teeny-tiny little link that says “Privacy.” Then just follow the directions. It takes about 5 minutes to get removed, and all but 1 minute of that is waiting around for the confirmation email to arrive.
For those of you who think the Government is the enemy – check again. It’s jackasses like the ones who run that site and the people that are paying them for info on YOU.
Thanks for the heads up on how to get off that damn list!
My GF told me about that place just the other day. I checked it out and saw a lot of what they had on me was incorrect but I didn’t know how to get off of it.
Thanks again.
Busted
Hey Ranger – Thanks for heads up!
They only allow 3 deletions/removals from each email address. So if you have kids, dogs, cats associated with your “profile” you cannot delete them. Their excuse is that they are protecting their profiles from “robot programs” or some such bs. Thanks to Ornery Bastard for high-lighting your site!
There is a boatload of such sites on the internet, and in my opinion, they are all bad. I have never actually found myself on one : My name is pretty common. I suggest that everyone, who searches this site, search again in a week or so, whether they found themselves listed or not. They might just find that their search was used as a source for a new entry or used to fine tune an older one.
Surfed on in from BustedKnuckles’ site (hat tip to Mrs. JP).
The drawback to this is #1 you can’t get phone number info removed because they don’t recognize the URL they give you.
#2, I was allowed only two removals before they shut me off to prevent “abuse” of their system, while saying that all you needed to to do, if you were a govt’ employee, was to use your @.gov email address. Apparently, the Feds get top priority.
I found an alarming amount of info, including comments I’d written on websites back in 2005, profiles of my Yahoo contacts and even pictures of my grandson I’d never seen before (even saw one of my ex, which was a real fucking treat, lemme tell you).
My only recommendation, if you have multiple listings, is to keep trying to get as much info as possible removed and to keep track of which URLs you’ve already removed. I’d also recommend keep going back to make sure those URLs remain expunged. If not, it may be time to complain to their help desk people.
Personally remind all your friends, too, and tell them to remove their personal info, as well.
I found me and it was hilarious. I’ve never put any pictures on the web and don’t do the social sites thing, but I’ve registered a few places. Alas, I always lie when completing the forms, so the information about me on spokeo is all wrong. I’ll just let it stay there, misleading anyone who looks.
Spokeo thinks I have a lot more money and credit than I do. Huh. I’ll let it stay.
You think that’s scary, look at some of the free voter databases – They’ve got real info. If your registered to vote they’ve got it. A lot of this stuff is “public” knowledge anyway. Hey, but we’re all to blame, we let the government do it and don’t protest.