Your personal information online, searchable, and for sale. This should be illegal.

[Statistical]

I got an "warning email" from my mother in law about this website I thought she was wrong yet again (often get a lot of bogus chain emails from her).

Checked snopes and turns out it is real.
http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/spokeo.asp

The website had more of my personal information available for sale then I would like.
http://www.spokeo.com/

Not sure how it can be legal for a company to exist who's sole purpose is to violate the privacy of others.

[valerief]

1. Congress and our Judiciary let it be legal, I guess. nt

[jp11]

7. Yes they aren't concerned enough or really at all when it comes to

personal privacy or how companies collect information on us and are allowed to do what they want with it. I think the excuse often cited is we 'give that information out' so therefore we accept whatever or however it gets used even if some of it is required to have a phone, own a car, etc.

[Catherina]

2. Their defense is that the only information on there

is information that's already on the web.

I agree with you that it's a violation but technically it's not. If you're concerned, you can click on the privacy tab and opt out.

I was horrified.

[jp11]

3. It comes from public records, your taxes, credit report, bills voting

phone numbers you registered, etc, I'm sure the more you put out there in your real name ie facebook/myspace,amazon etc all help them collect information on you.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Ever entered your phone number into Google?

Gives everything but my SS number. Even an overhead photo of my house and directions how to get to it.

Don

[Statistical]

6. Never had a problem with google.

I put in my phone number and nothing personal came up.

The reason why I was surprised by this website is I don't put any personal information on the web (blogs, chats, DU, other forums, facebook, etc). No address, no phone number, no birth date, etc.

Still looks like their are sources I can't control.

[pitohui]

36. i just did it

well if a person followed those instructions they would at least arrive at the correct state but i think they could figure out what state i'm from without google

do they just make stuff up? well, you say your info is correct, so they must check some of it sometimes i guess...

[Lance_Boyle]

5. They have 3 wrong pictures of me

and think my house is worth >$1 million. Whoever buys this information from them, I eagerly await the yacht and caviar-direct catalogs.

[Junkdrawer]

9. Yep. I have wrong pictures, wrong income, wrong marital status, wrong month of birth....

If you want a LOT of Bad Data, this is the site for you!

[Cal Carpenter]

10. Yeah, my house is supposedly $600-800k

That's a laugh! Even at the peak of the bubble it's value barely got above $200k. Now it's worth about $170k.

And I have no idea who the people in the pictures are.

[Brickbat]

8. I think it's hilarious that this Web site says my house is worth more than a million dollars and yet

I live in a "below average" neighborhood. :rofl:

[RockaFowler]

11. Wow - that was horrible

I guess all of those Warranty forms we fill out go to this place. they have your interests, if you have a pool or not and how much your house is worth. I checked my parents and they aren't on it, but there is my info - along w/my hubby's. Thank God my Facebook page is blocked. Just WOW!!

[noamnety]

12. On the one hand it horrifies me.

On the other hand, I've bought someone's records before.

My ex's boss had an order to withhold his child support from his paychecks but instead of sending it to the court the guy just pocketed it month after month. He was a no show in court, I got a judgment against him that he wouldn't pay, I needed some of his basic information like social security number and his assets in order to get to the next step of getting the child support.

[Frustratedlady]

13. I blocked my name a month or so ago and I see it is still not showing up.

You can opt out.

And, yes...the info they had was totally wrong...most of it.

[IDemo]

14. Opt out

Type in your name and find your listing, if it exists. Remove the listing by pasting the URL here -> http://www.spokeo.com/privacy

[DesertRat]

17. I'm suspicious of them asking for my email to opt out

It looks like one more piece of information for them to sell.

[jp11]

18. Try this.

http://www.mailexpire.com/

Better than the old site I used to use which seems to be gone now you can renew your temporary email alias.

[avaistheone1]

20. Thank you.

I appreciate you posting how to get our info removed. I think most of us do not realize our personal info is being posted by these websites.

[katandmoon]

33. Opt out feature is worthless

[IDemo]

35. I used it two months ago and my name still does not appear

The thing to remember is 'opting out' can't remove your data from whichever public databases they are sifting for your info.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

38. I am with idemo...

my stuff has been gone for a while...but none of it was very accurate to begin with so...

sP

[EstimatedProphet]

15. What they have isn't much different than Experian or TransFax, with one exception

It's WAY less accurate. I was laughing at how inaccurate the information was for me. If someone wanted to get to me in some way and they wanted to use Spokeo, I'd personally refer them to the info they had for me because it is so wrong.

[avaistheone1]

22. I worry about the wrong people getting this info.

Those are the kind of folks who will dig down through all the data until they get the info right.

Our personal info belongs to us not them.

[EstimatedProphet]

39. OK, but you should worry about them getting it from another site

This one is so wildly inaccurate people likely couldn't find you using it if you went up to them and introduced yourself in person.

[NOLALady]

16. This is funny.

I am a Caucasian male in my 60s, with a son also in his 60s. I also live in a million dollar+ home in a below average neighborhood. Million dollar home! Ha Ha!!

[Coyote_Bandit]

19. I have kids!

They are the four legged furry variety, however. Not quite what was implied.

[starroute]

21. It doesn't seem accurate enough to concern me much

It thinks I'm a guy who plays football and basketball, loves to travel, enjoys luxury goods, and has a house worth over a million dollars. (It has all the same stuff for my husband, who's been known to check sports scores online, but the rest is inexplicable to me.)

The one aspect that really concern me, though, is the more-or-less accurate listing of our online reading habits and knowing that we have cats. That suggests access to cookie tracking, which is going beyond what's available in public databases.

[Soylent Brice]

23. well, they totally missed the mark on me.

the only ONE thing they got right was my address.

lol, none of the pics were mine and were all stamped with SAMPLE.
dumbasses.

[JoeyT]

24. I tried it and according to this database

I don't even exist. And that's after having two business licenses, moving twice in the last ten years, and buying land. They certainly don't have a picture of me or any other data.

It looks like it's pulling your information from social networking sites. Pretty much what would come up if you googled your name, and all information you gave voluntarily at some point or another.

I had to try about fifteen people before I finally got anyone I knew in here, and that was my mom. And the only thing it got right was her address, and even that is the old addresses that were pre-911 system, so you can't find anyone with them. Everything else is pulled from random women in the area with the same last name. The interests are just hilariously wrong to the point that I'll forward her this just to see the look on her face.

Edited to add: It's pulling from Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Linkedin, Ning, and probably a bunch of others. Those are just the ones I can verify by the images and information of various people I know. So yeah, all data and pictures people gave up willingly. This isn't even actually kind of creepy like the public record searches are.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

25. most of the 'information' they have on you

is either demographics driven or so generic as to be laughable. I checked six or so friends of mine and they were off on everything except phone number...

sP

[ProdigalJunkMail]

27. hell, it even has a friend's GENDER wrong... n/t

[Xithras]

26. It's all information that's available in other places anyway.

Most people hand out their personally identifiable information without a second thought, and are then suprised to find out when they end up in lists list these. If you give your information to someone without a privacy policy, assume that your information is going to make the rounds.

I never send back warranty cards. I never enter contests or giveaways. I never register my computer software. My FaceBook profile is hidden from the world. I am careful to never post information on places like DU that could allow me to be identified as an individual. My phone number is unlisted.

When I looked myself up on Spokeo, it returned my name and address because that is public information (property ownership records). Every single other data item was either incorrect or missing. NOTHING was right. I credit the fact that I've been paranoid about my PII for more than a decade.

[jp11]

28. All good points except the privacy policy it isn't a shield that will protect you

if/when they want to cash in on what they know about you or just 'give' that to their partners, often they say 'we don't sell your information' and shortly after say they 'share' it with their partners. All the policies/agreements we check off have in them the right to change the terms whenever and however they want without necessarily notifying you about it or if they do all you could do then is to terminate your association with them.

[Xithras]

29. I said that with the assumption that people would read the privacy policy.

If someone requests your information and doesn't provide any assurances of privacy, you should assume that information will be shared (in our society, information has value...Facebook is a brilliant example of that).

If they do have a privacy policy, you can read it to determine what their practices are.

If a company says they won't share your data and ends up doing so anyway, at least you'll have grounds for a potential suit.

[snagglepuss]

30. .

[ProdigalJunkMail]

31. i guess your 'point' was made in the title of your post

why do people do this???

sP

[snooper2]

32. According to them I'm a Clerical/Service Worker

I only have a high school education, and my home is worth between 4-600K :rofl:

[CurtEastPoint]

34. Well, according to them, I have changed race and marital status.

FAIL

[pitohui]

37. everyone on that site owns a million dollar home!

i am pleased to learn that my home and my best friend's home are both worth more than a million dollars, in fact, i'll give the first person in line the low low price of $900K if they're willing to close the sale this month :-)

the lady in "my" picture is much younger than i am and perhaps in a more provocative pose than i would be in an online photo, and i'm pretty sure "mine" are natural while "hers" are implants...

also the house in the photo is not my house nor is it even near my house

all in all, anyone reading this online directory would come to the conclusion that i'm younger and richer than i really am, so it's all good