View Full Version : warning! too much personal info on this site
rrpederson
03-30-10, 03:35
hey everyone, just wanted to give everyone a heads up about this site that came to my attention today. i know that there are a bunch of these websites out there, but i think this particular website has way too much personal information on it.
http://www.spokeo.com/
i typed my name in the search bar and this website gave such information as, the names of my entire family that live with me, approximate income, some websites that i post on, and the most disturbing, my address and even a picture of my house. i just wanted to put this info out there, so that others can remove the listing from the site. like i said before, i know that there are other websites that do the same thing, this information is public record and i think is covered by the freedom of information act but it just made me a little uncomfortable. im the paranoid type so all kinds of alarms went off in my head when i saw this, if ur like me, then u probably want to remove these listings. if anyone knows of other websites like this feel free to post up so that if some of us want to remove our info, then we can. on spokeo, if u want to remove ur listing, search for your name, find the correct one by the city that u live in, and click the privacy link on the bottom right hand side of the page. hope this helps.
richie
I found myself on there and removed the profile. Thanks for the heads up.
Alpha Sierra
03-30-10, 05:41
Do you have to join up to remove your profile? I can't find any privacy button on the lower right hand of the page.
Do you have to join up to remove your profile? I can't find any privacy button on the lower right hand of the page.
You don't have to join. Once you find your profile look at the lower right corner and you should see it in small print. Its not by itself, but says ' About Blog Privacy Terms Help Contact.'
It had three family members for me. Most of the data was bogus, but it did have some correct info, plus the photo of my house. It only let me remove two out of the three, then cited policy about not removing all members.
D.O.A.F.S.
03-30-10, 06:44
hey everyone, just wanted to give everyone a heads up about this site that came to my attention today. i know that there are a bunch of these websites out there, but i think this particular website has way too much personal information on it.
http://www.spokeo.com/
i typed my name in the search bar and this website gave such information as, the names of my entire family that live with me, approximate income, some websites that i post on, and the most disturbing, my address and even a picture of my house. i just wanted to put this info out there, so that others can remove the listing from the site. like i said before, i know that there are other websites that do the same thing, this information is public record and i think is covered by the freedom of information act but it just made me a little uncomfortable. im the paranoid type so all kinds of alarms went off in my head when i saw this, if ur like me, then u probably want to remove these listings. if anyone knows of other websites like this feel free to post up so that if some of us want to remove our info, then we can. on spokeo, if u want to remove ur listing, search for your name, find the correct one by the city that u live in, and click the privacy link on the bottom right hand side of the page. hope this helps.
richie
THANKS for the heads up!
Interesting. Most of the info was bogus including address and home owner status (I have not lived at that address for 3 years for example). The wife was listed twice, once as a 60 year old male and once as a 60 year old female. She is female of course but not near 60.
AM in the process of requesting removal now.
Good catch and thanks for letting us all know! Does anybody else know of any MORE websites like this? I would really like to get more control over my privacy.
ThirdWatcher
03-30-10, 07:19
Thanks for the heads up. The info listed was mostly inaccurate, but I am necessarily a very private person so I deleted it anyway. ;)
Interesting. Most of the info was bogus including address and home owner status (I have not lived at that address for 3 years for example). The wife was listed twice, once as a 60 year old male and once as a 60 year old female. She is female of course but not near 60.
AM in the process of requesting removal now.
Mine had many errors as well, not to mention it valued my home at 800k-1mill. I wish that one was true!
I'll take a different view: So far, the listings are inaccurate, and the data tainted with misinformation.
Why mess with it at all? If someone had some reason to sort through multiple sites with the same misinformation trying to "do something," it will get pretty frustrating.
It's like my credit rating- the numbers don't reflect the fact I own my house, cars, etc. Nothing but utility and insurance payments. In one regard, it's actually accurate - I don't use credit, so the number reflects a lack of it. On the other hand, insurance companies and potential employers might take that number as some expression of financial instability - and infringe my rights.
There are bigger things to worry about out there.
rrpederson
03-30-10, 07:49
I'll take a different view: So far, the listings are inaccurate, and the data tainted with misinformation.
Why mess with it at all? If someone had some reason to sort through multiple sites with the same misinformation trying to "do something," it will get pretty frustrating.
It's like my credit rating- the numbers don't reflect the fact I own my house, cars, etc. Nothing but utility and insurance payments. In one regard, it's actually accurate - I don't use credit, so the number reflects a lack of it. On the other hand, insurance companies and potential employers might take that number as some expression of financial instability - and infringe my rights.
There are bigger things to worry about out there.
what u say is true but for me personally, i am the paranoid type. law enforcement puts me in contact ith some very unsavory characters and i wouldnt put it past any of them that, if given the opportunity, would attempt to kill me or hurt my family. i know im not that important enough for someone to pay a bunch of money to have me killed, im just a patrol officer, but there are some people out there, that live all around us that are completely out of their minds and would like nothing better than to kill the man that put them in jail. see why i concerned myself with it now? why wouldnt i make it very difficult for one of these types to find where i live. for the love of god, a picture of my house was on the damned site. u dont think thats a bit too much?
Looks like a simple aggregator, trying to get you to pony up $20 for what amounts to a google search on some one's name.
Looks like a simple aggregator, trying to get you to pony up $20 for what amounts to a google search on some one's name.
I think it is more than a simple aggregator. It is an aggregator but is more than just a Google search on a person's name. A lot of the stuff they claim you can look at if you pay did not come from Google.
Part of me wonders if they use the removal process as a way to validate information... color me suspicious.
I think it is more than a simple aggregator. It is an aggregator but is more than just a Google search on a person's name. A lot of the stuff they claim you can look at if you pay did not come from Google.
"Available Results May Include" being the big catch. I can find CC#'S with socials (Mostly in China sold on forums) on google , has pretty much every page on the internet indexed. You look up me I'm not on the internet :P. If you find something about me it's going to be misinformation posted on purpose :D
I consult for a company that has information that would make people never go online again, and it's not connected to the government. They have over 200,000,000 fully detailed bios, even some have ex's listed along with their favorite sports teams. :p
People post their medical conditions in forums, their sexuality age, state, and martial status on social media sites, tell people if their having an affair on sites like adultfriendfinder, their actual home addresses on their whois for their blog domain and just about every little bit of information in a public space.
Google reads your Gmail :D
So I wouldn't worry about Spokeo, their one of the smaller services any how. I'd be more worried about the major 3, yahoo, msft, and google.
rrpederson
03-30-10, 08:18
Part of me wonders if they use the removal process as a way to validate information... color me suspicious.
i had thought of that as well. what sux is that it is so easy to compile intelligence on anyone and their family now-adays. what else i found is that they already had my email address somehow. so im sure they will probably have a bunch of others as well. i just wanted to warn the other paranoid people that are similar to me. if possible i would like to keep this thread alive for a while so that other people can add the web addresses of other sites like it. there is a gang unit officer that works for my department that had some gang-bangers call him on his cell phone, threatening to kill him. i know that those turds used sites like this and other connections that they have to find him. i can personally say that these sites are dangerous if they are used in the wrong hands. just throwin that out there for what its worth. oh, and a side note, for people trying to remove more than 2 listings from spokeo, make a seperate email address and u can remove more than 2. i had to make another address to get all of my family off of that site. good luck everyone.
QuietShootr
03-30-10, 08:21
double tap
QuietShootr
03-30-10, 08:23
what u say is true but for me personally, i am the paranoid type. law enforcement puts me in contact ith some very unsavory characters and i wouldnt put it past any of them that, if given the opportunity, would attempt to kill me or hurt my family. i know im not that important enough for someone to pay a bunch of money to have me killed, im just a patrol officer, but there are some people out there, that live all around us that are completely out of their minds and would like nothing better than to kill the man that put them in jail. see why i concerned myself with it now? why wouldnt i make it very difficult for one of these types to find where i live. for the love of god, a picture of my house was on the damned site. u dont think thats a bit too much?
Do you know you can have your house taken off Google Street View if you're in a sensitive position? Write and tell them, and they'll black out about half a block around you.
ETA. Holy shit. I have got some work to do.
dirksterg30
03-30-10, 08:36
Part of me wonders if they use the removal process as a way to validate information... color me suspicious.
That's why I used my rarely used gmail account.
JBecker 72
03-30-10, 08:57
not worried about that in the least bit.
now a days, if someone wants to find your info, they will (if they have the means)
you would be amazed what kids on 4chan find out about people with very little info other than name and general location.
It says I own my parent's home which is worth over a million dollars but in a lower than average neighborhood...
RogerinTPA
03-30-10, 09:00
Luckily, no info found on me.:)
PdxMotoxer
03-30-10, 09:09
I hate these sites with a PASSION!!!!
Thanks for the heads up. I was there but most the info was wrong but some was correct.
Others to watch.......................
http://www.intelius.com/
A few get their info from.
http://www.addresses.com
and their removal site is......
http://www.addresses.com/optout.php
I google my name and personal info every once in a while the remove anything
I don't want out there.
Nathan_Bell
03-30-10, 10:14
It says I own my parent's home which is worth over a million dollars but in a lower than average neighborhood...
Yeah, enough of my information is wrong that I will just leave it be.
Confusion to the enemy! The enemy, in this case, being data miners and ID thievers. (I know, not a word)
arizonaranchman
03-30-10, 10:48
not worried about that in the least bit.
now a days, if someone wants to find your info, they will (if they have the means)
you would be amazed what kids on 4chan find out about people with very little info other than name and general location.
That's the truth. There IS NO PRIVACY in this high tech age. Anyone with the slightest effort can find you and everything they need to know about you. Just get used to it and realize this. There are sources out there that have so much info it's scarey.
I used to worry, but if someone is looking for me, they will find me. Thousands of cars drive by my house every day, people can see into my garage if the door is open, they can see my TV if the front door is open, and to be quite frank, if they want it they can get it at some point. And if I would go through all of the process of making myself more anonymous, I might fall victim to a completely random act anyway. That being said, I am still mindful of what hits the internet, email, cell phone, snail mail, and what not, but I wont worry one bit that someone has my home phone number with a google search or know the license plate of my car from a street view.
Most of the info on me was incorrect & appeared that they filled in what ever they didn't know with . . . random "facts" They came almost close enough on the adress to actually get mail to me, but. . . not close enough for someone actually looking to get something delivered to me. Same deal for the wife, listed twice and neither right enough in the facts to worry about. My ex-wife doesn't seem to exists, but she posts enough of her life online elsewhere. . . .
We could not locate Steindor C******* Are you sure you spelled the persons name correctly:D
Lucky me.
I found out a ton of stuff about my father, who is VERY paranoid about everything regarding him online. Not gonna be a happy camper when I notify him
The only thing they have correct on me is my address and the names of my immediate family members...As of 18~ years ago.
kaiservontexas
03-30-10, 13:42
hahahaha I still no exist! :D
"Available Results May Include" being the big catch. I can find CC#'S with socials (Mostly in China sold on forums) on google , has pretty much every page on the internet indexed. You look up me I'm not on the internet :P. If you find something about me it's going to be misinformation posted on purpose :D
I consult for a company that has information that would make people never go online again, and it's not connected to the government. They have over 200,000,000 fully detailed bios, even some have ex's listed along with their favorite sports teams. :p
People post their medical conditions in forums, their sexuality age, state, and martial status on social media sites, tell people if their having an affair on sites like adultfriendfinder, their actual home addresses on their whois for their blog domain and just about every little bit of information in a public space.
Google reads your Gmail :D
So I wouldn't worry about Spokeo, their one of the smaller services any how. I'd be more worried about the major 3, yahoo, msft, and google.
Well aren't you just Mr. good ****ing news:p. Just kidding, sad that this is the way things are.
JBecker 72
03-30-10, 17:00
makes you wonder what kind of info our own gov. has on us.... ;)
Heavy Metal
03-30-10, 17:18
I see I have done a wonderful job keeping my info off the web. I an practically an enigma according to that site ant most of the rest of the info is just plain wrong.
......so I am cool with it!
Wow. Most of the info is very wrong. The most amusing is that is listed me as having no interest in Politics. I am a regional Director of a Congressional campaign, the Indiana 9th District Young republican Chairman, and I have worked on national races.
Not to mention I am single and live alone where it has me listed as married with 3 people living here.
I looked mine up, It is very inaccurate.
First it lists a female name other than my wife, which we have never heard of as a parent living here. Length of residence is about half of what it is, value of home
$1M+, is than over one million, and the neighborhood as below average which I take exception with. It is not an upscale gated neighborhood, but a far above average subdivision with 1+acre lots just outside town, all brick homes with very little turn over on real estate market, people stay here.
No children here either although it says so. Our only son basically moved away 13 years ago when he started college and stayed in Miss. when he finished law school there.
I did find the links and hopefully they did remove my information as requested.
Govt passes damn laws about almost everything, this definitely should be one.
I found myself there also with a house worth over $1M (wish it was) and we are in a upper class neighborhood :D. I did manage to delete my information though.
Thanks for the heads up good buddy. You are the diligent one, no doubt.
Some info they post may be wrong now, but they will fine tune it over time if the funding is there.
No info there about me, I must be doing something right; very nice! :D
MarshallDodge
03-30-10, 19:28
No info there about me, I must be doing something right; very nice! :D
Me neither. It asked me if I spelled my name correctly. :p
Thanks for the heads up. I was on there twice, current and past address.
Preferred User
03-30-10, 19:44
makes you wonder what kind of info our own gov. has on us.... ;)
If you work for them . . . pretty much everything. If you don't work for them . . . pretty much everything.
Now make sure you fill out and return that census form. :rolleyes:
Very Cool - semi accurate - All from public data.
Did we have any allusions that our data is not out there?
Data miners suck!
Lots of inaccurate info, but enough was correct for me to request deletion.
OP - Thanks for the heads up.
:D funny i was born in 1988 but i'm in my early fifties!!! lol 99% of my info is wrong on that thing
usaffarmer
03-31-10, 00:41
they have me married to my sister, nothing about my wife. Thats awsome.
They got my occupation and est. home value wrong, but everything else seems on the money.
Yeah, enough of my information is wrong that I will just leave it be.
Confusion to the enemy! The enemy, in this case, being data miners and ID thievers. (I know, not a word)
there was a ton of info listed for me- the only thing they got right was my race, though. pretty funny how confident it appears to be in it's presentation of "information."
rrpederson
03-31-10, 04:52
well, im glad to hear that the info posted on their site was largely inaccurate. it was for me as well, but still too much was correct.
Thanks, requesting to remove info now
boggyboy72
03-31-10, 12:07
They didn't get me 100% right,But I'm removing Myself.
HAMMERDROP
03-31-10, 15:25
For 'locate a person' type of sites that will all give you the skinny on someone.
B.S. Alot of the information they gather is generally public record anyway, you got a hardline phone at your house? Even though your phone number may be non-published guess what you are still listed at that address. Public utilities voters registration tax records etc etc etc.
Now since everything is online its easy for a guy to write a program to extract certain info and worm $20.00 out of somebody for information from home on a dedicated phone line, when you just need to know who to call if your looking for information on someone.
The sites we should all worry about are LexisNexis' 'Collection Solutions' and Masterfiles' Probe360, I used each exclusively by choice for many years and I can say they are bad ass but you gotta pay for those sites and John Q. can't play but they are out there ... and knowing a guy like me had access to all that information is scary.
Michael
Danke!
I wish someone would destroy the internet with an EMP at times.
I hate these sites with a PASSION!!!!
Thanks for the heads up. I was there but most the info was wrong but some was correct.
Others to watch.......................
http://www.intelius.com/
A few get their info from.
http://www.addresses.com
and their removal site is......
http://www.addresses.com/optout.php
I google my name and personal info every once in a while the remove anything
I don't want out there.
Intelius requires you to "fax" them identification.
Any crackers in here? :D
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