SPOKEO. Has anyone really checked this site?
Found a reference to this yesterday, apparently it is a site that aggregates information on people who are part of social networks and makes all the information available to anyone who searches. This is scarey, info, phone, address, even an approximate financial score are available on here. Also any images you may have uploaded onto the web.
Am I the only one who feels somewhat violated by a site like this?
This site is renowned for false accounts using others images, indeed we got banned for outing many of these last time, we were called trouble makers, we have only just rejoined again today to track down someone whom has stolen photos of our friends Steve and Dot and used them here as their own. We run a site called Australasian Nudist Couples Network and take it seriously when our members images are stolen and used illegally. My advice would be for everyone to leave a site that is so flawed that identities are not checked and where people PAY to see your images posted by you. Does this not tell you that the membership here is for all the WRONG REASONS?
I have searched for my name and found no listing. What is scary is that I found a listing for my Father, who has passed away. The odd part about that is that he never in his life used a computer on line, never had an e-mail address or any type of on line activity. There was a street view photo of his house ( obviously from Google Earth) and estimation of his net worth. It appears that they are getting their information from public records such as tas roles and voter registrations and sources like that, not just from on line activities. Big Brother is watching he's just letting the private sector do the dirty work.
I found my former name and my current names there along with email addresses as well as my husband' information. I went through the hoops to take it all off, and it is now not there.
If you honestly beleive it's not there anymore you are probably mistaken. You may have blocked Spokeo from posting the info but spokeo got the information from somewhere. Property tax records, motor vehicle licensing and registration information and almost anything else nowdays are stored on computers somewhere. Unfortunately the computer specialists that work for our government aren't as good or as well paid as the computer specialists hired by private sector. And next they want to computerize all of your medical records? Be afraid, be very afraid.
If you do find items there you don't want, you can ask to have them removed. I check back every few months and the delete request has worked.
From the Spokeo top 10 FAQ's.
To remove your Name/Phone/Email Listing(s):
1. Locate the listing to remove (for name listings, please select the state, city, then exact profile match)
2. Copy the URL (the URL can be found on the top of your browser and
should look something like
"https://www.spokeo.com/search?q=Smith%20Sample#Sample:1219812367")
3. Go to www.spokeo.com/privacy
4. Paste the URL
5. Provide your email address (this acts as a verification process for
the confirmation to be sent to your Inbox) and Captcha Code (Image
Verification Code)
6. Check you Inbox for the confirmation email, and click on the link on the bottom to complete the removal process.
7. The directory listing will become flagged and will be removed within 1 business day.
Google your name or any of your usernames and you will probably find the same information. These services search public record and compile the information. Anything you can find on these sites you can find for free with a little effort. I have been researching my ancestory, and without paying any service I was able to find birth records, property tax records, marraige records and even court records with nothing more than a name, birth year and a little time. I was able to pull up and download goverment pay records from before the Revolutionary War.
If you don't want the world to see it don't post it. There was a women in England, I believ, who was just arrested, convicted and sentenced to 120 days in jail because of vacation photos she had posted on Facebook. Granted she was on social services and flashing expensive trips on FB. Big Brother is watching, and privacy is a thing of the past. Check privacy settings on all social sites often and don't expect privacy in any way on the internet.
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